Okami
by Everybeast
Summary: The legend of Jusenkyo...  A deity and a monster fell to earth, the god trapped in the waters cursed by the demons blood.  The Spring of Drowned Kami sits in the heart of the valley.  RanmaOkami Cross.  Don't think this ones been done before!  Try it!
1. The Ascension

* * *

**Chapter One : The Ascension**

* * *

Long ago, in a land far different from our own, a legend of a 8-headed serpent came to its supposed conclusion. The defeat and death of the vile serpent heralded an age of peace.

But with it, the serpent took the life of one of the hero's who helped defeat it, a wolf with a pelt the color or falling snow.

No one knows quite what happened to the serpent or the wolf. They both disappeared in a violent flash of light, leaving only the other hero; a man by the name of Nagi; to bear witness to the aftermath.

The island where the battle took place, the dreaded Moon Cave, was swallowed by the water that surrounded it. The man was heralded as a hero and a statue of the wolf was enshrined on top of the hill that overlooked the small village nearby.

It was believed that the wolf, who had already shown strange and wondrous powers while fighting the serpent, was forced to snatch itself away at that final moment... taking the serpent with it. Since neither one of them were ever seen again, people believed that both had died in that battle.

The village, from that day forth, held a festival on that day. A festival cerebrating the valiant defeat of the dreaded serpent Orochi by Nagi and the wolf, who was named Shiranui.

It has been countless years since then and the details of such legend have been lost in the ebb and flow of time.

This story starts in a place far from Nippon, known now as Japan. Far across the Chinese border.

* * *

**China**

Two men were standing atop bamboo poles.

An interesting way to start a conversation, no?

These two men, however, were also leaping to and fro trading blows between them. Both were exceptionally skilled at martial arts. Also, both of them were ignoring the shouts of the large rotund man nearby. He was yelling something about curses and water or something. Neither of the two men cared to listen.

"You're getting slow, Pop!" The younger of the two yelled.

His father didn't respond with anything but a flying kick, which the boy easily avoided.

"You shouldn't eat so much, old man," The younger man said, "All that weight you're carrying around slows you down!"

"Silence, boy!" The older man said, attacking again.

This chain of insults staccato by attacks went on for maybe a minute or two.

That all changed when the younger of the two suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a person.

Glancing over in that direction quickly, he saw what looked like a person with odd disfigured green skin that had its face hidden behind a plain paper mask. The mask was inscribed with a strange symbol. The figure seemed to be watching them while lumbering about itself much like an ape would.

As the creature saw that the boy saw it, it suddenly went into a flurry of motions. These motions weren't very fast in themselves and more looked like some weird sort of dance than any sort of threat. It was just waving its arms around like a lunatic.

Because of this rather odd distraction, his father almost managed to land a kick that would have hit the boy strait in the face.

"You need to pay attention, boy!" His father yelled.

"Cut it out, pop!" He said, glaring at his father, before looking back towards the figure, "I thought I saw something."

It was gone.

"You're just seeing things!" His father attacked again.

"Quit it, Pop!" The boy yelled, "Seriously!"

"Stop whimpering! You sound like a girl!"

"Shove it!"

The battle continued for a few more moments. By this time the rotund guy nearby had given up trying to talk to the two.

The father ended up on a post a few feet in front of the boy. Like he had many times before, the older man rushed at the boy with a kick. A blow that the boy could easily avoid by jumping, which he did.

Or at least tried too.

When he tried to jump, he found that the foot that he was standing on was somehow firmly held in place. Looking down in confusion, he finally saw where the weird green figure went.

Below him.

It was now currently latched onto his leg, not allowing him to move it.

The boy glanced quickly back towards his father. Because of his distraction, he was unable to avoid or dodge said blow.

The kick sent him flying a good ways away from his father. At the moment the kick connected, the strange... thing... let go of his leg.

The boy barely had time to register what the hell just happened before he slammed into one of the small bodies of water that the bamboo poles were set up in.

The older man simply landed and waited for the boy to come up so he could rant/gloat.

Ten seconds went by.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Okay, about a minute now.

Only after about three minutes did it dawn on the older man that his son might not be coming up nor might he be conscious.

The older man leap over towards the pool.

"No, sir!" The rotund guy yelled, "You must not go in spring! Honored Guest would be cursed!"

"Cursed?" He asked, only now noticing that the round man was even there.

"Yes, it very sad story," the pudgy guy said, "Springs curse whoever enter to turn into what last drown there. This one doesn't know what spring this is; is more ancient than others."

"What!?" He said, "So my son...!?"

"Probably drown," The man said, "Another sad story. Anyone who jump in now take form of young honored guest."

The older man was about to say something else when he noticed that the area was suddenly much darker than it had been a moment ago. Too dark for it simply to be a cloud blocking out the sun. It was almost like it was night all of a sudden.

Looking up, he didn't even have time to react before it came down upon both of them.

* * *

**Unknown Area**

"Ugh," the young boy said, "Shit... why does my head hurt?"

He paused for a moment, trying to remember.

"Oh, right," He muttered to himself, "Pop kicked it."

Shaking his head slightly, he sat up to look around.

And realize that he didn't know where the hell he was.

Before him was a small path. that lead towards a crossing. One way went to what looked like a river. The other way went up to a high hill. But that wasn't the weird thing.

The weird thing was that the stars filled the skies, almost as if they were close enough for him to reach out and touch them. Also, to the sides of the path; with the exception to the strange river; there seemed to be nothing but what looked like swirling clouds below. The entire area seemed to resonate with a peaceful feeling.

"Where the hell am I?" He asked, looking around him.

Obviously, no one answered.

Seeing this; and seeing the fact that he wasn't getting anywhere just by sitting there; the boy stood up and slowly started to walk down the path. Now that he walked, he could see that small stone statues and pots lined the road.

Reaching the split in the road, he saw that what had looked like a river from far away was nothing more than what looked like a shimmering lake of liquid. The sign next to the river simply said 'Stardust River'.

The boy walked over to the edge of the river, which had an old broken bridge going across it. He slowly dipped his hand into it. The liquid was just that, a liquid, and therefore wet; although it didn't have the same consistency as water. But, being as he didn't know what the hell it was, he decided not to enter it; instead heading up the hill nearby.

The top of the hill was filled with lush foliage and flora. A small shrine was set atop it, holding only a very well done statue of a wolf. It was unlike a normal wolf, having strange markings all over it and strange tuffs of fur on certain places. Although it was in a pose that had it snarling, it didn't seem in any way threatening.

"Aw, man," He said, "I don't get this place. All I want to know is how to get out of he"

His sentence was interrupted by the sound of something whistling through the air towards him. It came from his left, bursting from the clouds below. He dropped into a defensive stance instantly and prepared to face whatever the hell this was coming at him. He expected that it could be anything.

Except a long white scaled dragon with strange red markings all over its body. In its four hands it clasped four different orbs of energy: one of red, one blue, one of green, and one of yellow. It had a long slender body and what looked like a scroll of some sort floating behind him, partially opened.

It coiled itself around the shrine once or twice before its stopped moving and just stared down at him.

"Young child," It said, "How is it that you came of this place?"

The boy simply looked at it for a long moment.

The dragon just floated there, waiting for an answer.

"Uh... um..." The boy said, "I... uh... I dunno."

"You do not know?" It asked.

"I... sorta just fell into a little spring or something and then poof... I was here," he said.

"Ah, I see," The dragon closed its eyes for a moment, "Then you are the one who fell into the Jusenkyo Spring that housed this place."

"Wh-what?" He asked, "I'm still in the spring?"

"Correct," The dragon said, "I am known as Yomigami, God of Restoration, and this area is called the Path of Heavens; a sacred realm that only the spirits and gods may enter. However, one link to the material realm was made; through the spring you fell into."

"So do all of the springs have weird places in them?" He asked.

"No," The dragon plainly remarked, "The Jusenkyo Springs are cursed to turn whoever falls into them into what drowned there last... and this spring is no exception."

"Wh-what!?" The boy yelled, "C-cursed!? I don't want to turn into anything! You said you were a god, can you just... ya know... restore me back to normal or something?"

"My power cannot be used as such," Yomigami said, "The curse of Jusenkyo is very strong indeed. Not even a god such as I has the power to reverse its affects, but a more powerful god may be able to alter it somewhat."

"Then what the hell drowned here!?" The boy asked.

"The wolf enshrined here," Yomigami said plainly, looking towards the statue of the wolf nearby.

"I'm gonna turn into a wolf?" The boy asked.

"It is uncertain," Yomigami said, "There are two possible outcomes."

"Which are?"

"You refuse to accept the curse, the powers, and responsibility that come with it and stay in this plane of existence as your body drowns in the spring, thus making it so that whoever falls into that spring turns into you," Yomigami said, "Or you accept the curse and be released from here."

"Whadda ya mean... 'responsibilities'?" The boy asked.

"The wolf who is enshrined here was no normal wolf," Yomigami said, "It was a deity. The creator of all that is good and mother to us all."

"So its either die and stay in this place for the rest of eternity..." the boy said, "Or become some wolf-god... I think I'm gonna go with option two."

The dragon smirked.

"Then take my powers and travel further into the Path of Heavens," Yomigami told him, "There you will find another god. Once you have collected both of our powers, you will return to the mortal plane."

"Take your powers?" The boy asked.

"All will be made clear when it is needed," Yomigami said, "Use my power to bridge the gap across the River of Stardust. Wield the powers of the gods and become who you were destined to be: Amaterasu reborn!"

With that name, the dragon shimmered slightly, its form melding away into what looked like a strange ball of light. It hovered there for a small moment before it ripped towards the boy, who didn't have a chance to react before it hit him.

Power surged into him. A warmth filled his body as if he was basking in the summer sun. It hurt at first, the power stinging and the heat too great. Eventually, the power settled down, although the warmth never fully faded. Now the cold and chilly air of the area didn't have the bite it had had previously. And with this warmth came a strange realization of sorts. The knowledge of the powers of Yomigami: the power of restoration.

The boy turned to look towards where the river was. He quickly moved down towards where it was, specifically towards the broken bridge.

Lifting his right hand, he looked at it skeptically for a moment, before he reached out, extending two fingers as he did so. He concentrated and almost instantly he could feel the warmth that covered him start to gather towards his hand. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard.

He slowly moved his hand downward, visualizing the bridge in his mind. He moved his fingers as if connected the two broken parts together. As he did this, he could feel the warm power exit his fingers.

He opened his eyes... and stood there in shock.

Almost as soon as he did, he saw the power flicker through the air slightly. As it dissipated, a brand new bridge now crossed across the river.

"Holy shit..." He said, staring at his hand, "That... was _so _awesome..."

The warmth that had left him left him with a slight chill even though he could still feel the warmth within him. After a few moments, however, he felt the warmth quickly returning.

Testing the bridge for a small moment, the boy slowly walked across it. For a bridge he had kinda willed into existence, it was as sturdy and nice looking as if it were made by a master carpenter just a few hours prior.

"I wonder what else I can do with this," He said, looking around, trying to think of stuff to create or repair.

Spying one of the stone statues nearby, he strolled over to it; and with a single kick; smashed it into pieces.

He watched as the dust slowly drifted away, leaving a small pile of rubble on the ground. Quickly cracking his fingers, he concentrated again, again moving his hands as if to fill in where it was broken. Even with him not closing his eyes, he couldn't see anything more than a small after image following his hands. The warmth gathered in his hands again, moving outwards to reform the statue. The same flicker of power appeared and the statue was again whole.

"Heheheh," He chuckled, "Sweet."

Looking around a small moment more, he eventually saw that off towards his left a small ways was an archway. A golden light seemed to flow from it, masking anything that was beyond it in a white glow.

Feeling much more confident, he walked over towards the archway and walked through it cautiously.

The light blinded him for a small moment.

As the light dimmed, the boy found himself in another strange place. Unlike the place he just was, there was no weird cloud stuff off to the side of the path. One side met a sheer cliff face hundreds off feet high. The other side was, in turn, a cliff face, although this was a sheer _drop_ hundreds of feet _down._

The sounds of running water came drifting down from up ahead. The path snaked around a turn, climbing ever upwards. He could see the fine mist probably created by a waterfall up ahead.

The walk up this part of the path was less surreal and more serene. The stars now looked like normal stars. The area wasn't bathed in the same strange ethereal light as the other area was.

By the time he got to a clearing, he had been climbing up a steep path for quite a while. He had to cross several bridges and went through several small archways; sans glowing light of course.

He wasn't terribly out of breath, but it was obvious he was getting a small workout from it. He slowly sat down up next to a tree nearby. The air in this area smelled sweet and crisp; the smell of a field of flowers after the morning dew.

"Hmm..." He muttered to himself, "This place doesn't look like its in the same place as the first area. I wonder where I am now...?"

After sitting there pondering that for a moment, he stood. Whatever fatigue he had gotten from the walk was quickly washed away by his endurance and the soothing warmth.

Looking father up the path, he only had one thing to say.

"Ah, crap. Now I have to climb stairs?"

* * *

The flight of stairs was long. Very long. Gruelingly long. Mind numbingly long.

So it was about a five minute climb up these stairs, although it did seem to take longer.

"Damn... stairs..." he was panting, out of breath, "Maybe I shouldn't... have regenerated... those trees... on the way up..."

True, although the walk tired him somewhat, the amount that he used his newfound abilities completely drained him of the warm feeling. He had become very tired, sore, and seemingly a little bit weakened. The warmth was coming back, but not nearly as fast as it had been earlier.

"Damn..." He said, rubbing his arms, "When did it get so cold?"

Standing there for a moment longer, he waited for the warmth to come back. It did so, and he soon regained his breathe and energy.

The area at the top of the stairs was a small cave, in which was nestled a shrine. Wards hung from strings lined the hallways to keep out evil spirits, and a large wooden gate was partially open, the lock rusted and fallen off ages ago and the wood splintered and rotten.

Inside the shrine it was rather plain. It held a pit on the far side, from with a large statue rose from. A small walkway went over the pit towards the center of the room. The statue, like everything else, was overgrown with moss. The statue was of a man holding a sword up high, although the sword had been broken off so that only the hilt remained.

The boy looked at it for a while. The statue was old and almost worn so that it was impossible to tell who the man was. The identity of the man didn't truly concern him, but the shrine was just that, a shrine, and it had fallen into disrepair. He concentrated, doing the only thing he could think of to make the shrine more respectable again.

He drew his fingers upwards, forming a blade onto the giant hilt of the sword that the statue said. As it appeared, he brushed his hands off. He was about to turn to look around better when he heard the sound of steel being drawn across stone.

His danger sense flared and he instinctively tumbled out of the way as a rather large sword slammed down where he had been only moments ago. Sinking into a defensive position, he turned to see the wielder of the huge blade.

And he then promptly planted his face into the cold stone.

The creature that held the sword was a mouse. A mouse only as big as the swords hilt and pommel. The mouse had white fur with red makings all through it, akin to Yomigami; the dragon. The sword, however, was easily bigger than Ranma.

The mouse seemed to glare at him for a while, before it suddenly relaxed. It was now hanging from the pommel of the weapon, which was balanced on its tip, making the mouse and the boy have roughly equal height.

"Ah..." The mouse said, "It is Amaterasu reborn. I must apologize for my hasty actions. It has been long since I have interacted with others."

"Heh, you must be the other god or whatever that that dragon was talking about," The boy said, "Even if you are a pipsqueak."

The mouse made an angry... mouse sound and swung the sword very quickly. Far to quickly for something that size to swing something that huge. The boy had to duck the blade.

"Yes," It said after calming down, "Like Yomigami. I am Tachigami, wielder of the blade of evils bane. I have waited for the day that you would come again, Amaterasu."

"Who's this Amaterasu guy you guys keep talking about?" The boy asked.

"Amaterasu is the creator of all that is good and mother to us all," Tachigami said, "The deity of the sun; you are Amaterasu reborn."

"That wasn't what I meant..." the boy started.

"All will become known when Amaterasu comes to you," Tachigami squeaked a little, "It will not be long. You have chosen to accept these things. It is far too late to go back at this point."

Tachigame dropped from the sword, flinging it around by biting hold of it. The mouse then tossed it to the boys feet. He slowly kinda bent down and picked it up. For a sword of this size, it was quite light.

"Look," He said, "I don't do weapons, okay? I don't really want a sword."

"This is no normal sword," Tachigami said, "It is a blade forged to cut down evil. A blade that can slice a mountain in twain. It is not a blade you will wield with your hands... it is far more potent."

The boy looked down at the sword and then back up to the mouse. He blinked when he realized the mouse was gone. Then, he realized something, and realized that the sword he had been holding was gone too, vanished in his very hands.

For a moment, he simply looked around, trying to see where it went. After seeing it wasn't anywhere nearby, he simply started grumbling to himself.

"A sword you don't wield with you hand, what the hell use to I have for something like that?" He murmured, "Hmph... maybe..."

Looking off to his left, he saw that there was a large rock jutting from the floor. A small smirk came across his face when he saw it.

Concentrating quickly, he brought his hand up and then diagonally, as if tracing a line through the stone. The energy built up and released itself.

Cleanly slicing the rock in half even though he was more than twenty feet away.

"Holy shit!" he said, "Awesome!"

Glancing around, the rotten old gate caught his eye. Such an eyesore, really.

So, with a wave of his hand, he sliced it in twain.

"Hehehehe..."

"Having fun?" A voice asked from behind him.

The boy whirled around to look at who was there.

It was a wolf. A wolf with a snow white pelt marked with crimson, forming symbols over it.

"Hello, Ranma," It said, its voice one of a young womans.

"How do you know my name?" He asked.

"I know much about you," the wolf seemed to give a smile, "You did fall into my spring."

Ranma looked down for a moment.

"So you're..."

"I am Amaterasu," The wolf said, "And you are my reincarnation."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Ranma said, "The reincarnation of a wolf? How does that work?"

"It involves the realities of my death," Amaterasu told him, "I died in a battle against a great evil eons ago. Under normal circumstances, I would have simply gone into a slumber until my power was again needed. But when the blood of the evil being fell into the springs, they became cursed. And when I fell into one, I was trapped by that curse. Until now."

"Because I fell in it by accident," Ranma said.

"It was no accident," Amaterasu told him, "My powers were trapped, but even the curse of Jusenkyo couldn't bind my soul. But... without my powers, I was forced to become reincarnated in a mortal form... _you_."

"Me?" Ranma asked.

"Future is preordained, to a point," She said, "You were fated to fall in that spring. Reality willed it to happen."

"I fell in because this weird green thing jumped on me," Ranma argued.

"An Imp, I know," Amaterasu nodded, "Vile tricksters, but maybe not without their purposes."

"An imp? You mean like a demon or something?"

"Exactly. Humans are typically not privy to such things. Demons and the like go unseen by most, allowing them to reap havoc without worry."

Ranma paused, looking down.

"So... what now?" He asked.

"A... difficult answer," The wolf looked down, "One I fear you will not take kindly too."

"This is about the curse thing, isn't it?" He deadpanned.

"The part you won't like is the curse, at least partially," Amaterasu responded, "Beyond the curse, you will become me in my stead. It will be your responsibility to battle evil where it rears its head and to help the world around you."

"Become you?" Ranma said, looking worried, "You mean, like a wolf?"

"No," Amaterasu said, "You will not become a wolf, at least not fully. You will most likely take on some lupine traits, although I do not know what. But such changes will be like the demons, humans will normally not be privy to it. Only those who had a celestial connection or have great spiritual power will be able to see them. To the rest, you will appear to be a normal human girl."

"Oh, okay," He said, looking down, "If I have to be a freaky thing, at least no one will..."

He stopped dead, literally frozen in place.

"Wait..." He said, "A... a-a g... g-g...?"

"That is what I knew you wouldn't like," Amaterasu said, "To those who see solely using spiritual means, I would appear to be a maiden most fair. Thus... although I am a wolf... the spring will turn you instead into a maiden yourself."

"But... but... but..."

"And I wish I could tell you that you would be able to change back into a man with application of hot water, as the other Jusenkyo curses, but..." She said.

"But... but... but...?"

"Since you will become body physically and spiritually 'me'... the magick will dissipate immediately afterwards, locking you into that form... rather permanently."

"But... but... but...!"

Amaterasu didn't say anything else. She just let Ranma sputter for a moment before he just went slack.

"Although it will not comfort you now," Amaterasu said, "The changes to yourself after it is locked may actually include several... things that will help you cope."

"Things!?" Ranma yelled, "What THINGS!?"

"Um..." Amaterasu looked away, "Nothing very big... you know... small things..."

"What small things!?"

"Nothing in particular..."

"What small things!?"

"Really, they're not that..."

"WHAT SMALL THINGS!?"

"It'll change your personality a little, okay!?" Amaterasu yelled back.

Ranma instantly deflated. Almost literally; he went completely slack, almost to the point where he would fall over.

"So you're saying I'll act like a girl, too?" Ranma asked.

"Possibly," Amaterasu said, "You must trust me, I do not wish this. If I had the choice, I would have made you been born female."

"That isn't very comforting..." Ranma deadpanned.

"Sorry..." Amaterasu responded.

Another pause.

"So... how long do I have?"

Amaterasu somehow managed to make a nervously laughing expression.

"Um... heh..." She said, looking around, "Not very long, actually. We are on a time limit."

"What time limit?" Ranma asked.

"Well, truthfully, you're body is still underwater at Jusenkyo," Amaterasu said, "Just that time flows differently here. For every hour in here, roughly a minute passes on the outside."

"So I've been underwater for almost two minutes now?" Ranma said, "Like I'm drowning?"

"That is a distinct possibility, yes," She answered.

"Well, I don't really wanna DIE," Ranma said, "That's kinda why I agreed to this in the first place."

"So then..." Amaterasu said.

"Yeah... I guess," Ranma said, "Just promise me I'll still be me."

"I promise," Amaterasu smiled.

* * *

_Note: This story wasn't written in chapter to chapter form, so the transition between them may be a little rough. I tried to pick the best places to separate the chapters, but I know that I tend to leave strange cliff hangers and things like that. Bear with me people! Huzzah!_


	2. A Walk in New Shoes

* * *

**Chapter Two : A Walk in New Shoes**

* * *

**Jusenkyo**

One of the springs seemed to burst into life. Slowly, a figure rose out of the water. First were the figures crimson hair. What basically seemed like the upper part of a teenage girl was offset heavily by what looked like two white furred wolf ears coming from her head. Her face had makings on it; a circular symbol on her forehead coming down to a point on her nose a small bit and two marks under her eyes on her cheeks. The other highly strange thing about her was the white furred wolf's tail coming from behind her. As for the changes that weren't visible at the moment, she also had red markings down her arms, legs, and back a small bit.

She wore a pair of white pants that were somewhat loose but still fit snuggly in all the right places. She wore a red and white shirt on as well that had a white wolf embroidered on it and it hugged her in the right way to give her ample chest support. Her hair was now done back in a long pigtail that was braided down to the small of her back.

The girl slowly opened her eyes, but the next thing she did after that was close them again and sigh, shaking her head slightly.

She looked around the area to find it dark, almost as if it was night time already. She looked upwards into the sky to see that no moon nor a sun shone in it.

'The light has been taken from this place,' a voice sounded within her head, the voice of Amaterasu.

"Whadda ya mean?" She asked. At least her grammar didn't change.

'Look around,' Amaterasu said, 'Can you not see the frozen form of your father and the Jusenkyo guide?'

Ranma looked around quickly after hearing that. The guide himself looked as if he had been turned to stone, looking up at the sky. After searching around for a little more, she eventually found her father, still atop the bamboo pole nearby the pool she went in. He as well was as if made out of stone, staring into the sky.

Ranma hopped onto a nearby pole.

"What happened to them?" Ranma asked.

'Life cannot live without light,' Amaterasu told her, 'To breathe life back into this area, you must first bath it in the light of the sun yet again.'

"But how?" Ranma looked up, "I can't control the heavens like that."

'Yes, you can,' Amaterasu said, 'I, and now you, are the deity of the sun. Call to it to shine in the sky and it shall. Night shall turn to day and drive the darkness out of this area.'

Ranma looked at her hand for a moment, before reaching it up into the sky.

* * *

A small distance away, atop a nearby cliff, a person was stirring. They shook their head, ridding it of its cobwebs He yawned afterwards.

Looking around, the young man mumbled to himself.

"Damn, it's still night time?" He asked before looking to a small watch he had in his bag, "3pm? This thing must be broken or something. It's way to dark to be 3pm."

The boy laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, but something was bothering him.

At first, he couldn't quite put his finger on what that thing was, but after a few moments, he realized.

"What happened to all the sounds?" He asked, glancing around.

There was nothing.

No birds in the trees. No animals moving around. No owls hunting in the night. Not even the chirping of crickets.

The boy, having noticed this, slowly sits up and then eventually stands. Looking around, he notices that the area, although it is as if it was the darkest of nights, still is somehow illuminated enough to see. This, however, made the entire area seem devoid of all color.

Walking to the small opening in the brush where he can look out across the valley below him. Only once he got there did he hear something.

Someone was talking in the valley below.

Looking down there, he could see a long figure. Against the drab background, she shone almost like a beacon because she almost radiated vibrant colors. And although he couldn't understand what she was saying, he did recognize that when she looked at the two people down there with them... that those two people were made of stone.

But there was something odd about her; about the way she looked. It was impossible to tell from this distance, but she definitely had an odd look about her.

And then she did something spectacular.

She gazed skyward for a moment, before raising her hand towards the sky. She stayed like that for a few moments, before with a twist of her wrist, she drew a circle in the air before clenching her fist and bringing it down.

She continued to gaze skyward as if waiting for something.

And then, out of nowhere, brilliant light flooded the area. The boy looked up into the sky to see a single point of light flowing down, hitting her.

These small rays of light quickly expanded, cutting through the darkness. And in what was only a matter of seconds, night turned to day.

"H-how...?" The boy said, "H-how did she do that...?"

The boy watched the girl that had somehow summoned the sun from the heavens for a small while longer before he darted back to his stuff. Rapidly gathering everything, he quickly started to find a way down there.

* * *

"I didn't know I could do that..." Ranma said, looking up into the sun.

'As you find the other gods that remain in the world of men, you're capabilities will grow rapidly,' Amaterasu said, 'But before you start heading off to do crazy stuff, I need to tell you something.'

"What?" Ranma asked, not noticing that both her father and the guide were now looking at her with a 'where the hell did she come from' expression.

'Being a deity, you draw most of your strength from people who believe in you and give you praise,' Amaterasu said, 'The mere fact that the 13 gods lost in the world believe in you will keep you alive, but unless you gather praise you will not grow stronger at least in the terms of being a god.'

"So I have to convert people or something," Ranma looked down, "I suck at talking to people..."

'How do you think I did it when I was a wolf?' Amaterasu asked, 'Perform miracles. Help the needy. I wouldn't tell them strait out that you were a god, they'd probably think you were insane, but telling them that maybe their fortunes are because the gods helped them will be enough. And with unexplainable miracles, especially rather specific ones, its easy to convince someone that there's a high power working for them. And you can still gain praise by doing mundane things. You won't attract any believers, but...'

"That simplifies things, I guess," Ranma said.

'And it isn't just from mortals, you know. You can gain praise and believers from spirits and other creatures such as different animals. Even trees,' Amaterasu said, 'Animals, plants, and spirits can perceive you as who you truly are.'

"And demons?"

'You'd be surprised how numerous they are, and unlike humans, you can see them and they know you can. Many will simply attack you on sight. When fighting them, you must exorcise them all. And do to that, you'll need a divine instrument.'

"I need to play music?" Ranma looked confused.

'No, an instrument as in a weapon,' Amaterasu said, 'You deific powers can effect then, yes, but they're draining and demons can sometimes resist them. Your martial arts will be effective, but a weapon could always grant you an upper hand.'

"Then where do I find one?"

'Simple. After getting you father to calm down, ask the guide to show you to the Joketsuzoku village nearby here. They're a tribe of amazons who have a large stockpile of items that are either magickal or divine.'

"Hmm?" Ranma finally looked to where her father was. He was yelling at the guide, less that a few inches from his face. The guide looked scared shitless. Several things were strode all around the two, either broken in half or shattered beyond all recognition.

"What the hell happened to my son!?" His father yelled, "Why didn't you tell us earlier that the damn springs were cursed!?"

"H-honored sir..." The guide managed to stutter, "This one t-tried to w-warn you b-but you no hear..."

"You're the damn guide! You're job is to warn people! You can't just let people just run in there like that!!!"

"Pop..." Ranma tried to get his attention.

"I raised a son! I don't want a daughter!"

"Pop...!"

"Goddammit men aren't supposed to have...!"

"POP!"

That finally got his attention.

"Lay off him, alright," She said, "We did just run in and ignore him. It's not his fault."

"B-but... but..." Genma was still pissed but seemed at a loss of words at the moment, "Boy, you're acting like a damn girl."

Ranma mentally remarked to herself about how she reacted to that. That one phrase used to make her, or his, blood boil. But now, she really wasn't even bothered by it.

"I remember you saying something about men not supposed to be having something a few seconds ago, Pop," She said, signaling to her chest before smirking, "What? Afraid you'll get your butt whipped by a girl now?"

"Nonsense!" Genma yelled.

"Then prove it!" Ranma smirked, jumping back onto one of the bamboo poles.

Genma didn't fall for it.

"I'm not going up there!" He yelled.

"Whatsa matter? Chicken?"

Ranma then started to make bawking noises, all the while flapping her arms like wings and balancing on one foot.

"Why you little ingrate!" Genma DID, however, fall for that one.

Ranma jumped back with an unearthly grace that she had been lacking only a few minutes earlier.

"Hey, Ammy," She whispered.

'Wha... me?" Amaterasu's voice answered.

"Yeah," She whispered again, dodging her fathers blows, "You know the layout of the valley really well?"

'Yeah, kinda.'

"Can you pick me out a good spring?"

And with that Ranma jumped over Genma, managing to land on the other side and keep going. Genma gave chase.

As she and her old man were darting across the valley, she suddenly reached back her hand and swiped it at supposedly nothing.

Genma didn't notice that the bamboo pole he just landed on had been sliced in twain until he was already halfway underwater.

And with that, Ranma hopped back over to the guide.

"I'm sorry about my old man," She said, bowing, completely ignoring the sounds of a Panda screaming out in agony behind her.

"It... it nothing," The guide said, picking up some of the stuff laying at his feet, "This one gets reactions like this all the time."

"I'm really sorry though," She said, picking up a large wooden object. It looked like some sort of instrument. She held it out, "Did my Pop break this?"

"Ah, sadly yes," The guide said, "Is this one's daughter's. It family heirloom."

"Oh," Ranma said, seeming just observing it, "Well, I'm sorry again. Here."

She handed the instrument back to him.

"I'm going to go distract my Pop," She said, "But you wouldn't know of any... Jakezosuko tribe or something around here, would you?"

"Ah, Amazon tribe yes?" The guide said, "Yes, is very easy to get there. Take left road out of valley and it go to Joketsozuko."

"Thank you," Ranma bowed, "May the Gods watch over you."

The guide smiled at that.

"Is very rare for honored guest to say things like that," He smiled widely and bowed as well, "This one wishes the same for you."

Ranma smiled and started to try and get her father to follow her down the path towards Joketsozuko.

The guide watched them as they disappeared into the woods.

He sighed.

"Is such a shame that family heirloom is..." The guide looked at it, "It... it is not broken!? Maybe the gods _have_ blessed this one this day!"

* * *

**Roads**

"Stop whining!" Ranma said, "I told you the curse reverses when you get splashed with hot water! The water's almost ready!"

Genma-Panda continued to make extremely annoying guttural sounds that Ranma could only guess was whining.

The two were stopped for the night. They were both sitting on their bedrolls that were positioned on opposite sides of a small fire.

As he continued to whine, Ranma saw that steam was rising out of the kettle. Before she could grab it, Genma snatched it up and held it away from her by holding above his head. He glared at his son-now-daughter.

"Should you be holding it like that, Pop?" Ranma gave him an annoyed look, "I think that's the kettle that leaks."

Genma just looked confused.

Motioning with her fingers, Ranma signified lines in the air.

"It had cracks running along the bottom from one end to the next," Ranma said, "You can see 'em now."

Genma glanced up.

Just in time to have the entire contents of the now sliced to ribbons kettel splash down onto him.

'That wasn't what I was talking about when I saw perform miracles,' Amaterasu noted.

Ranma didn't respond, but she did smirk wickedly.

"Boy!" Genma, now human, yelled at him, "You have some explaining to do!"

"What?" Ranma asked, looking at him.

"For one, why haven't you transformed back into a boy!?" Genma said.

"My curse is pretty permanent, Pop," Ranma said, "The guide told me that certain springs can be reverse and others can't."

Genma's face went white.

"Every time you react like that something bad happens," Ranma glared at him, "What did you do this time?"

"How dishonorable!" Genma suddenly wailed, "My only son distrusting me so!"

Ranma sighed and waited until Genma ended his 'my only son' rant.

His record was one that lasted almost an entire week.

Luckily this one only lasted a minute or two.

"Anyway," Genma said, "What's with the attitude change!?"

"What?" Ranma asked, "I can't change anything about myself without consulting you first?"

"When did you get to be such as smart ass!?"

"I've always been a smart ass."

"See!? See what I mean!?"

"I... I-I don't follow."

Genma grabbed his temples. He gave a highly annoyed grumble. Ranma smirked.

"Anyway, to answer your question," Ranma said, "Musta been the spring that I fell in. It's your fault anyway. It was your idea to go there even thought the brochure clearly said 'cursed' several times on the front _and_ you were the one that kicked me in the damn spring anyway."

"You had plenty of time to avoid that attack," Genma said, "It's your fault for hesitating."

"I wasn't hesitating," Ranma retorted, "My foot was caught on the pole."

"And one last thing," Genma said with a dark tone to it. He had gone from a highly annoyed state to one where he was simply sitting there cross legged, his hands on his knees, his eyes closed, with a very serious expression on his face, "What spring did you fall into?"

"Um..." Ranma looked at him, "Whadda ya mean? Spring of Drowned Young Girl."

"I doubt a normal young girl had dog ears, weird markings on her face, and a tail," Genma said in the same dark tone.

Ranma looked shocked.

"Y-you... you can see them?" She asked.

"Of course I can see them, boy!" Genma said, "They're as plain as day!"

"Um... okay, so maybe it wasn't quite the spring of drowned young girl," Ranma said, "The... the guide said that he... um... didn't know what drowned there, so... I uh... I-I dunno?"

"Right..." Genma said.

"Look, Pop," Ranma said, looking at him seriously, "I don't know what the name of the spring was, honest."

Spring of Drowned Sun God? _Sweet._

"Hmph..." Genma went quiet.

Ranma just kinda looked down.

"One more question," Genma said.

"Hmm?" Ranma looked up at him.

"Where are we headed?" Genma asked.

"Oh," Ranma said, "The Guide said that there was some sort of Amazon village up ahead. He said that they'd be able to help with our curses."

Genma nodded and with that went silent.

Although he was still steaming a little.

Probably a blister or two in the morning.

* * *

It was later that night, after the two of them had gone to sleep already. A sudden rustling caused Ranma to wake. Pushing herself up, she glanced around the area. The small clearing that they were in was only slightly off the road, so at first she thought someone was traveling this late at night.

However, as the rustling came again, she could tell it was coming from the opposite direction of the road.

She moved her feet underneath her before she slowly stood up. Moving as silently as possible, she started to moved towards the sound.

She moved close to where a tall shrub was, trying to peer other it. She didn't see anything.

Of course, that didn't mean something wasn't there.

Something that made itself known to her.

By walking strait into her.

Most of the impact happened around the nose area, where both Ranma and whoever this other person was banged together.

Ranma backed away, holding her nose slightly. She looked up at the person who was in front of her, in the middle of the shrub.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, miss," The person said, "I... I was just wandering around looking for you, I'm sorry I hit you like that."

"It's okay," She said, "But why were you looking for me?"

She kinda narrowed her eyes at the boy.

"Well... I heard something going on yesterday back when it was still dark and... um..." The boy said, "I wanted to know how to summoned the sun like you did?"

"S-summon the sun?" Ranma said, kinda shakily, "That... that wasn't a-anything important. J-just a simple trick I was showing my father."

"That was one hell of a trick," The boy said, "It really looked like you made the sun just appear in the sky."

"Y-yeah," She said, "It definitely took a long time to learn how to do it..."

"Well, anyway," The boy said, "My names Ryoga."

"Ryoga?" Ranma tilted her head to the side. That name was familiar, "That name sounds familiar..."

"Um... familiar?" Ryoga said, confused, "Have we met before?"

"No," Ranma said, "I don't think so."

"Yeah, that was sorta a silly question," Ryoga said, "I think I would remember a girl with a tail."

Ranma looked up at him.

"You can see them too?" Ranma asked.

"Well... yeah," Ryoga said, "Why?"

"N-nothing," Ranma said, "My name is Ranma Saotome."

"S-Saotome!?" Ryoga said, looking at her in disbelief.

"What is it?" Ranma asked.

"You mean... Ranma Saotome... of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts?" Ryoga asked, stepping away from her.

"Yeah," Ranma nodded, before realizing something, "Oh... you must be Ryoga Hibiki! I remember you!"

Ryoga just looked at her with a 'how do you know my name' expression. (Expression #856)

"What?" Ranma asked, tilting her head to the side, making her ears twitch. As she felt that, she looked down, causing her to see her chest, "Oh... yeah... I guess I do look kinda different."

"What... what the hell happened to you!?" Ryoga asked kinda loudly, "You weren't a girl back when we were in school!"

"It's a curse," Ranma said, looking off, "One that I picked up only earlier today. I guess you're just gonna laugh at me or something..."

"You... you..." Ryoga balled up his fist and gritted his teeth, "You made my life a living hell!"

"Za...?" Ranma peeped. She watched as Ryoga looked as if he was ready to pounce on her.

"Ranma Saotome! Prepare to D...!"

At that very instant, Ryoga's yelling had managed to wake up Genma. And with a direct hit to the side of his head with a rather heavy backpack Genma also managed to floor him.

Genma just grumbled and rolled over to go back to sleep.

Ranma blinked a few times, looking at Genma and Ryoga, both of whom were laid out.

Suddenly, Ranma heard what sounded like a flute. Several flutes. The sound sent shivers down her spine. She looked around, confused, trying to find where it was coming from.

From the darkness around the camp site, three figures appeared. Their skin was green and misshapen Their faces were masked with identical paper masks that had a strange kanji on them. The each were also playing their flutes.

"D-demons!?" Ranma said, "What are they doing here!?"

'Demons cannot be seen easily,' Amaterasu's voice said, 'They'll often bind themselves to a person, cursing them. Even if that person was strong enough to see them, if they are bound to them, they would not appear before them. If you want to rid your friend of his curse, you'll have to exorcise them.'

"Hmph," Ranma smirked, "No problem."

She sank into a defensive stance and motioned the imps towards her.

Their reaction was instantaneous.

The two behind her jumped towards her, whereas the other one places his mouth to his flute. He then blew, causing the flute to suddenly extend towards Ranma at a blinding speed. Ranma dodged swiftly, seizing the flute as she did so.

With a pull, she tore the flute from the hands of its owner, sending herself into a spin and knocking the imp off balance. She brought the flute around to hit the two imps behind her and dragging them with the flute to slam into the off balance imp. The three of them slammed into a tree a small distance away.

At this point, Ryoga was sitting up, rubbing his head. Shaking the cobwebs out, he turned to Ranma to see that she now held a rather long flute much like a staff. He saw her swing it downwards towards what looked like weird lumpy green masked monkey things.

"What the hell are those!?" He shouted to himself.

The flute slammed down onto the head of the imp that had landing in the middle. The flute snapped under the force and the imp's face met the ground with equally tremendous force. The imp then burst into a dark mist, its dark energies dispersing.

The other two imps started to stand up shakily. Ranma just reeled back before launching the broken flute at them.

Ryoga almost laughed as the flute was on a strait course to go strait between the two creatures. He was about to yell 'you missed, you idiot' before Ranma suddenly slashed her hands down vertically.

With a slicing sound, Ryoga suddenly saw the flute split in two down its length. The two halves separated from each other, each one slamming into the chest of the two imps. They flew backwards from the hit; their bodies dissolving into that black mist as they did so.

"Ha!" Ranma yelled, "That's what I call whopping demon ass!"

As Ryoga saw the demons dissolve away, he suddenly felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He could almost feel the hatred that he had bore towards Ranma dissolve away with the three creatures.

"Wha... what were those?" He asked.

"Oh," Ranma said, looking at him, smirking, "Just some demons that had cursed you. But I took care of that! Ha!"

Ranma stood up strait with a proud and cocky expression on her face.

"Um..." Ryoga said, "Thanks, I guess. I do feel a lot better for some reason."

Ranma looked at him with her smile. This caused Ryoga to looked away, blushing slightly. This, in turn, confused Ranma. Why was he blushing?

Ranma also felt the warmth within her pulse slightly. Although only slightly, she felt... better. Stronger almost.

'That's the effects of praise I was talking about,' Amaterasu said, 'Those words of praise and thanks are what give you power.'

Ranma nodded.

"Anytime, Ryoga!" She said, before looking at him, tilting her head to the side, "But why are you all the way out here in the middle of China?"

"I... uh..." Ryoga said, "Actually I followed you because you skipped out on our fight."

"Our fight?" Ranma asked, "But... wait, I waited there for three day!"

"And when I arrived on the fourth day, you were gone!" Ryoga snipped.

"Gees," Ranma said, "Hopefully you're horrible sense of direction was undone when your curse lifted. Besides, my Pop basically knocked me out and dragged me off when he found me. He was pissed something horrible that I had vanished for three days."

"Really?"


	3. Joketsozuko

* * *

**Chapter Three : Joketsozuko**

* * *

**Near Joketsozuko**

The three people traveling on the road found themselves nearing a pair of gates. Genma was again a panda because of the heavy forest dew that morning. Ranma looked kinda disgruntled because Genma was whining in that horribly grating and someone scary sounding panda voice. Ryoga, having decided to go with them in hopes of not getting lost, stood on the other side of Ranma from the panda-esque Genma.

"Pop," Ranma said in a dark and threatening tone, "Shut up before I shove a tree down you're muzzle."

As they neared the village, the three noticed that it was bustling with activity. There was a lot of commotion coming from the town square. There were two sets of weapons and equipment at the town gates, signifying that the guards had skipped their post. Seeing this, the three slowly walked into the village.

Almost instantly the smell of food wafted towards them. Genma barreled into action, darting towards a large table of food. Ranma was following after him.

"Ranma, wait!" Ryoga said, "Don't eat that food!"

"Wha... why not?" Ranma looked back, pouting slightly.

"Look," Ryoga said, pointing to a sign that was written in mandarin, "The food is the first prize, probably for whomever wins the tournament over there."

"Ah, hell," Ranma said, looking down, her canine ears drooping, "So we won't get any of it. That sucks."

Ranma then looked up.

"Shit! We gotta stop my old man before someone sees him shoveling food!" She then took off towards the table at full speed. Ryoga went after her.

They arrive to see that two platters full of food were already gone and Genma was quickly making work of a third.

"Pop, you idiot!" Ranma said harshly but quietly, "Stop eating that! You're gonna get us in...!"

"You there!" A voice yelled out.

The three newcomers all glanced towards the voice.

"Who you!?" The young girl ask, her bonbori raised, ready to strike at them, "This your panda!?"

"Um... yeah," Ranma said nervously, "The stupid idiot uses his stomach to think instead of his head."

"Panda eat Shampoo's prize!" The girl, supposedly named Shampoo, yelled, "Shampoo gonna make Panda skin rug!"

Shampoo then jumped towards Genma, who's eyes were wide, a drumstick still sticking out of his mouth.

"Aak!" Ranma squeaked as she saw the bonbori head strait for her fathers head. She acted quickly.

Shampoo brought her heavy bonbori mace down upon the panda's head.

Or so she thought.

There was the shrill sound of metal being sliced apart. Shampoo found that she suddenly only had a handle in her hand. The heavy mace part landed on the other side of the table, cut off only an inch away from Shampoo's hand.

"Za...?" Shampoo said, utterly confused.

"That panda isn't a panda!" Ranma yelled, quickly moving up between Shampoo and Genma, "It's my idiot of a father!"

"Panda still eat Shampoo's prize!" The purple haired girl yelled, "And red haired girl break Shampoo's bonbori!!!"

Shampoo waved the broken handle in front of her for emphasis.

"Look..." Ranma said, "The food is the first prize, right? So if I beat you, it'll be no problem."

"You challenge Shampoo?" The girl asked in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"Hmph!" Shampoo said, "Then we fight on challenge log!"

Shampoo then jumped onto the log that was suspended a good five feet above the town square.

"You better be thankful, Pop," Ranma scowled at him before she jumped onto the log herself.

Also even before she landed, Shampoo attacked her with her one bonbori.

Ranma twisted so that it simply went over he shoulder. She slapped it away with the palm of her hand.

Shampoo, using this momentum, twirled around coming in with her bonbori again. Ranma set herself up to dodge the blow.

Shampoo smirked as the girl seemed to fall for her feint. The instant before the bonbori would have gone past the girl, Shampoo shifted her weight to her other foot, swiping at the girls feet with her leg to try and trip her. Ranma simply backfliped out of the way, having been able to react quickly enough.

Shampoo, already crouched down, sprang upwards towards the retreating red-head.

Ranma then swiped her hand as if to throw something at her. Shampoo brought her bonbori to block whatever it was.

She only noticed a small while later that the girl hadn't thrown anything. She glanced up in slight confusion to see that the girl was standing on the far end of the log holding onto one of the chains that supported it.

Shampoo touched down just after she heard two loud clanks. The log, she noticed, was suddenly at a very steep angle. She almost pinwheeled her arms trying to regain her balance, but no no avail. She tumbled off the log as Ranma just used the chain to hold herself there.

Shampoo hit the ground in a sitting position, slightly dazed. She looked as she saw the outsider girl jump down.

"There," Ranma said, "I win."

Shampoo then quickly stood up and walked over to her quickly. She reached out for the girls head before something stopped her.

"Xian pu, stop immediately," An old raspy voice said.

"Huh?" Shampoo looked towards the voice, "But... great grandmother...?"

"I cannot allow you to give this girl the Kiss of Death," An elderly woman said, pogoing up towards them.

"But... she defeat me, so I not winner of tournament," Shampoo looked down.

"Do not worry," The old woman said, "The rules clearly state that only Amazons may truly participate in the tournament. This last battle does not mean that you lost the tournament."

"But Panda eat prize...!"

"Surely the young red-headed girl can explain her fathers actions," The elderly woman glanced towards her.

"Um..." Ranma said, looking around nervously, "My father's... a humongous idiot...?"

"Hmm..." The woman cocked an eyebrow.

"A humongous idiot who thinks with his stomach before his head..." Ranma said, shaking her head and sighing, "Look, there has to be some way I can make up for my fathers stupidity..."

"Hmm... yes, there is," the old woman said, "But before hand, I must speak to you in private."

"Wha... what?" Ranma asked.

"Make sure that you're father doesn't endanger himself any more than he already has," The old woman said before turning and pogoing off.

"Uh..." Ranma paused for a moment before turning towards where Genma and Ryoga were, "Ryoga! Can you look after my old man for a while!?"

"What!? Why!?"

"Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid! I'll be back in a few!"

"Hey...!"

Ranma then turned and darted after the old woman.

* * *

Ranma hesitantly stepped into the hut that she had seen the elderly woman go into. The air was heavy and smelled of herbs and strong incense.

"Ugh," Ranma said as she pinched her nose. She scanned the foggy room for the old woman. She saw her sitting a small distance into the hut near a small shrine.

"We have waited for you for a long time," The woman said.

"Wha...?" Ranma asked, looking confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Are you not the one that fell from the sky eons ago?" The woman asked.

"Uh... no," Ranma said, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Hmm..." The woman said, "Perhaps you do not remember, but I am certain it is you. No other being would have such crimson markings."

"What? Damn it, how many people can actually see these things?" Ranma said, tugging on one of her white furry wolf ears, thoroughly annoyed.

"Then you are her," The old woman turned, "Amaterasu..."

Ranma narrowed her eyes.

"How do you know that name?" She asked darkly.

"It is an old legend in these parts," the woman said, "Of a white wolf and a serpent falling from the sky towards the Sacred Valley of Jusenkyo. The sun god Amaterasu and the eight headed serpent Orochi."

Ranma looked off for a small moment.

"Yeah," She said, "I guess I am Amaterasu, but I go by the name Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

The woman then bowed on the ground.

"Oh great Amaterasu, creator of all that is good and mother to the gods," She said, "I am Koh Lon, one of the elders of Joketsozuko village. I wish to humbly ask of you to aid us in a dire matter."

"Uh..." Ranma said, looking down at the woman. She'd never been bowed to like this. The woman was revering her as a god, "Y-you don't have to bow or anything. Whacha want me to do?"

"As we are a village cut off from the rest of the world, we are dependent on ourselves for our own survival," Koh Lon said, "Due south of the village is the farmlands where our food supplies are grown. But as of recently, a vile curse has spread across it. Plant and animal alike wither and die. I must ask of you to aid us in ridding the land of this curse, as only a heart as pure as yours can pierce the darkness."

"Um... I'd like to, really," Ranma said, "But... I don't know how much I can do. I don't have the power to restore crops and such."

Koh Lon sat up, looking at her.

"This is expected," She said, "Since you had disappeared into Jusenkyo, you're powers have waned. The powers of the three floral gods, the Hanagami, were entrusted to our village long ago in the form of a flute. The powers of the flute nurtured the ground in this land. But, as of late, the flute has supposedly lost its power. I must ask that you bless the flute so we can banish this curse."

With that, Koh Lon held up a long flute towards her. It was crafted as if by a master artisan, made of fine woods and inlaid with silver. Ranma gingerly reached out and took it.

As she touched the flute, she could instantly feel the power of the Hanagami held within it. The silver set within the flute seemed to spring to life, sparkling brilliantly as she touched it.

"The flute still has its power," Ranma told her.

Koh Lon closed her eyes.

"Then perhaps the curse is simply too power for mere mortals to dispel, even with the aid of the gods," Koh Lon replied, looking down, "Then I must ask you to rid us of this evil. Oh goddess Amaterasu, will you aid us?"

Ranma looked down, not really being used to being addressed such a way. She thought for a moment.

"I will," She said, "Not only because it is my duty as... a god, I guess, but also as my duty as a Martial Artist to protect those who are in need."

"Thank you," Koh Lon said, "Then today, you shall rest. Tomorrow, we shall show this village that the gods still exist."

Ranma looked at her at that.

"I gotta ask one thing though," Ranma told her, "I guess I am Amaterasu reborn, but... I have lived as a normal person until recently. My Old Man isn't a very good person. Elder Koh Lon, promise not to let him know about me and call me Ranma when he's around."

"Certainly," Koh Lon said, bowing, "Now, I must make sure my granddaughter has no hostilities towards you and assure the tribe of your position in the matter of the tournament."

"Yeah, I'd be thankful if ya would."

* * *

"Mr. Saotome," Ryoga said, "Please calm down before these women kill us or something."

"I fear no woman!" Genma yelled in response, "Women are far weaker than men and I for one will..."

Genma suddenly collapsed in a heap onto the floor, unconscious. Ryoga looked to see Ranma and the old woman behind him.

"Hey, cool," Ranma said, "Could you show me how to do that later?"

"Of course," Koh Lon told her, "I knew you said your father wasn't very intelligent, but if he had continued speaking, I assure you, he would not have been alive for long. This village is ran by the women, you know."

"You mean the men are the ones who do all the housework and stuff?" Ranma asked.

"Exactly," Koh Lon said, "And now that your father is indisposed, I can relay the message to the rest of the Amazons."

"You're..." Ranma looked down at her with an insecure look, "I mean... most people can't see the markings and the tail and stuff."

"Really?" Koh Lon said.

Ranma nodded, "I think that only people with a large amount of Ki can see them. Or people who have some weird celestial connection."

"That is fine," Cologne said, "We need not reveal that it is you that healed this land until afterwards. Tomorrow, we shall go to the field and you shall remove the curse."

* * *

The rest of the day was one spectacle after another. Shampoo was almost beside herself when Cologne; Ranma couldn't say Koh Lon's name with the right emphasis; had invited the mysterious red-headed newcomer to share in Shampoo's victory feast. Of course, Ryoga was invited at Ranma's request.

Genma was locked in the cage for the entire duration of the time Ranma decided to stay in the village.

The feast had begun awkwardly; many of the Amazons were either glaring at Ranma or giving her respectful glances. Shampoo only calmed down after she and Ranma had a lengthy conversation about each others combat capabilities The conversation ended with both of the girls impressed of each others abilities.

For Ryoga, the entire feast was kinda awkward since Ranma had told Shampoo and some of the rest of the warriors there that Ryoga was just as good of a warrior than she was. This earned him judging glances and caused the some of the girls to giggle because he spent the entire feast with a permanent blush on his face.

Soon, the feast was dying down at the same time the sun was beginning to set in the west. It was at that time that Cologne approached Ranma about her supposed Martial Arts skills. She wanted to see her abilities, which Ranma was only too happy to agree to. After a small demonstration, Cologne was highly impressed. She was even more impressed when Ranma went from out of breath at one moment to perfectly normal in only a few moments.

She then asked to see Ranma's more secret powers. And so Ranma; when no one was looking; show Cologne how she had won the fight with Shampoo. She quite easily cut a nearby tree down simply by pointing at it.

Needless to say, Cologne was fascinated

* * *

"You're gonna help us heal this land?" Shampoo asked as Cologne relayed to her the message that Ranma was going to remove the curse.

"Ranma here has shown that she has many special abilities," Cologne said, "And I believe that she could effectively use the Hasagami Flute to heal this area."

"Are you so sure about that?" One of the elders of the village asked.

Ranma, Shampoo, and Cologne were inside of the elders hut. They had been asked to come there by Cologne's request. It seemed that the only one present that could see Ranma for what she really was was, in fact, Cologne.

"I am sure," Cologne said, "Ranma has told me of some of his ordeals with her travels. She is extremely skilled at both the martial arts and the spiritual arts for her age."

"And how old are you?" An elder who sported a strange headdress asked her.

"I'm... almost seventeen," Ranma said, "Me and my old man have been traveling around for almost ten years now, learning about martial arts."

"And do you think you can rid this land of this curse," An elder that always seemed to look angry asked, "Something which our most wise and most powerful sages could not do?"

Ranma looked down a small bit.

"I... I am not totally sure," Ranma said before looking back up at them, a look of determination in her eyes, "But, with your permission, I'll sure as hell try my best!"

"Ranma here has a spark in her the likes of which I have never seen before," Cologne said, "Surely allowing her to try is better than just sitting around worrying about what we are to do next. We are at the point where we must seize every opportunity to combat the evil. If we do not do something soon, the cursed zone is likely to spread to the village in a few more years."

The elders went quiet.

"Koh Lon is correct," The youngest of the elders said, "We must do everything we can before the curse spreads. Letting an outsider simply handle the sacred flute under close observation is much better than the curse enveloping us."

"Yes, that is true," The elder with the weird hat said, "We must allow this red-headed newcomer to try."

The angry elder sat there, continuing to look angry, for a few moments.

"Very well," She said with a scowl, "Although it will not please me to see the flute in the hands of an outsider, we cannot pass this chance up if the Cologne is so reverent about it. We elders will accompany you to the fields and only then may this girl handle the flute."


	4. The Fight and The Festival

* * *

**Chapter Four : The Fight and The Festival**

* * *

**Joketsozuko**

As the night ended, the next day came and the sun was high in the sky. Ranma and Shampoo had managed to form a friendship. Ryoga had gone missing. Genma was still locked in a cage. Everything was good.

A small party of people were gathered to head towards the cursed crop fields. It consisted of Cologne, Shampoo, Ranma, and the other Joketsozuko elders.

The trip there was silent. Should Shampoo and Ranma ever talk, it would garner whispers and strange looks from the elders behind them. Cologne, however, remained silent and merely smiled at the two girls who; despite one of them being a deity; were becoming friends.

The trip only took maybe fifteen minutes and the road was well traveled, but Cologne said that they had been very dangerous. Misfortune befalls anyone who walked it alone. Several trees were blocking the path and rocks sometimes littered the road.

As they neared the open fields, Ranma started to feel a cold chill down her spine as the grass started to become more and more withered. Trees looked either dead or dying. The color seemed to drain from the world around them. The air became stale.

When the exited the forest and onto the fields, they stopped.

"We cannot go any further," the angry elder said, "Anyone who enters the field is quickly turned to stone."

Sure enough, across the fields were several statues of men and women that looked like they were still working; others looking off towards the horizon.

The fields themselves were dark and desolate. The entire place seemed like a dry wasteland with a lone tree standing far out within it. The tree was twisted and blackened, as if it were burnt. This is what Shampoo and the others saw.

But Ranma could see it.

A dark power that permeated the area, shrouding it in darkness. She could feel the power of the evil easily even from this distance. Unafraid, she walked to the edge of the darkness.

"What is that tree?" She asked.

"That used to be a sacred Shinshu Tree that was blessed by the Hanagami," Cologne said, "It is the only thing that was capable of surviving the curse, although it grows worse and worse every day. We have tried to call out to the tree with the flute, but we have had no avail."

"Where is the flute?" Ranma asked, looking back.

Shampoo walked up to her slowly, holding out a object that was wrapped in silk. Ranma reached out and took it.

"Don't worry about this," She smirked at Shampoo, "It'll be a snap."

Shampoo smiled and nodded before stepping back.

Ranma unwrapped the flute and turned. She held it for a moment, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

And she started to play.

The notes came from the flute almost automatically. Her fingers moved almost as if controlled by some outside force. The song that came from the flute was light and almost whimsical. The wind seemed to pick up, blowing towards the tree, almost as if in an attempt to carry the noted there.

The song ended and the field remained unchanged for a few moments.

Then, just inside the edge of the evil, a small flower sprouted up.

"A flower!" Shampoo said.

Even as she spoke, more flowers sprouted. The flowers kept coming up rather quickly. It pushed the curse back, but Ranma could see that they could do nothing to dispel it at this point.

In a final gust of wind, flowers seemed to rocket towards the tree. It formed a long, narrow pathway to the tree after a while.

Ranma started to walk forwards.

"The pathway won't hold for long," She said, "You wait here, I'll deal with the tree."

"What?" Shampoo said.

"Don't worry," She responded, "Ranma Saotome doesn't lose."

And with that, Ranma took off like a rocket.

"Ranma, wait! Is to dangerous alone!" Shampoo started to run after her.

"Shampoo!" Cologne said, stopping her granddaughter, "Let her go! She can handle this, trust me."

Shampoo just looked down at her grandmother for a moment, before looking at Ranma's retreating form.

Ranma ran faster than she had ever gone before. She could feel the warm power fueling her as she covered twenty or so feet with each step. Wherever she stepped, ethereal cheery blossoms seemed to fly upwards before disappearing near the ground.

The trip to the tree was short thanks to her newfound speed. As she neared the tree, she felt an ever increasing feeling of evil. When she finally arrived, the feeling was intense and almost unbearable.

As soon as she exited from the path of flowers, the path seemed to collapse as the curse surged back into it, blocking her exit.

She looked around. The area around the tree was just like in the forest; dry and desolate, as if the color was drained from the ground itself.

But as she started to near the tree, the tree moved. Ranma instantly stopped.

Branches seemed to start to come together until they went strait up towards the sky. They then started to arch downwards, coming to the ground ever so slowly.

The branches then started to push down on the ground, seemingly lifting the tree up. Or at least, the upper part of the tree.

What came from the tree stood strait upright for a moment before it came down towards the ground, leveling off.

What came to look at Ranma was what looked like a giant spider crossed with a woman. The legs were what used to be the 'branches', and its rear end had been sticking up out of the hollow tree trunk.

The front end ended with a sickly blue skinned torso of a woman with four arms coming from it, each tipped with sharp claws. Its head had long greasy black hair and its face had no nose nor eyes. Its large mouth had two huge fangs coming from the sides.

"And what do we have here?" It said in a hissing voice, "A young girl... my favorite dish..."

"I don't think you'll be eating me, spider," Ranma responded, "I'm here to take you down."

"Oh, really!" The spider said, "What fire is in this one... tremble in fear as I devour you whole!"

"Oh please," Ranma said in an annoyed tone, "You aren't even half as scary as my old man is when he's drunk. But you do smell a lot worse, so I'll give you that."

"How _dare_ you!" The spider roared at her, "For that, I will make you suffer!"

"Bring it!"

And with that the spider lunged.

Ranma jumped forwards, landing on the spiders back with a heavy kick that would have split stone.

It didn't have the effect she wanted.

The spider was barely fazed as it started to try and reach her with its arms. Ranma was forced to run down the length of its body and jump out of harms way. She landed and took a small pause as the spider turned around.

But the spider whirled around far faster than Ranma thought it would, bringing one of its claws into Ranma's side.

Ranma flew a small ways away before managing to spring upwards and land on her feet. Luckily, the claw hadn't been able to pierce her skin somehow. Even as she landed, the spider was on her again, striking downward with its claws.

Tumbling forward, Ranma found herself under the spiders torso. She struck upwards with a series of fiercesome blows before having to jump away to avoid the claws again.

"You're strong," the spider said, "But you'll need more than your fists and a mere flute to harm me!"

The claws impacted the ground where Ranma had been standing. Ranma soared towards the spiders head and delivered a powerful stomp to its head, causing it to reel downwards. Ranma jumped again, but not in time to avoid its claws.

Ranma shouted as the thing started to squeeze her. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't get the clawed hands to budge.

"Heheheheheh," The spider laughed as its other two hands started to move towards Ranma, "Yes... yes...! Struggle...! Struggle for your life...!"

Ranma just gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate through the pain.

The spider suddenly roared as one of its arms suddenly and inexplicably was severed at the elbow.

Ranma landed and bounded away almost to the edge of the cursed zone.

"Damn it!" Ranma said, "I can't hardly hurt this thing and I can't just keep using Tachigami's blade. My energy isn't recovering half as fast with all this darkness around..."

Ranma then felt a tingle in her right hand. She looked down to see that she was grasping the flute and that one end was glowing brightly. She lifted it up, and the glow at the one end suddenly extended into what looked like an energy blade.

"Insolent maggot!" the spider yelled, "You shall suffer an eternity in the abyss!"

Ranma had to dodge away from the spider as its remaining hands slammed into the ground again. Ranma then jumped up towards the spiders torso again.

She, instead of landing, soared over the spider, slashing with the strange sword as she passed. The blade bit into the spiders skin as if cutting butter. Landing, she jumped to the side as the spider roared out.

The spider turned quickly to attack the girl again, but she saw that Ranma was nowhere to be found.

The spider quickly scuttled to look behind the tree, but Ranma wasn't there either.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are..." The spider hissed as it stalked the area, looking for the girl.

The spider suddenly yelled out again as one of its legs was sliced off, sending it off balance for a moment.

Ranma landed just to its left and she moved in quickly for the kill.

She didn't have time to react as the spider lashed out, grabbing her with the one good arm on that side.

Ranma was swung around before she was slammed into the ground _hard_.

"Gah!" Ranma called out as she impacted. The spider let go to stop itself from falling down, but Ranma found that she couldn't hardly even sit up.

She opened her eyes to see the spider reeling around.

"You... you shall pay..." The spider said, weak from how much inky black blood it was losing from its many wounds, "For... what you have done... to me..."

Ranma was in pain. The impact against the ground had almost been too much for her to take. She forced herself to stand through the pain. She wiped the small bit of blood from her mouth as she readied herself to attack.

The two came at each other at the same time. Ranma lunging with the sword and the spider lashing out with all of its claws.

As they both hit, there was a pause. For several seconds neither of them moved.

The spider suddenly buckled, falling to the ground; Ranma's blade sliding out of its forehead. Ranma dropped the arm that she had barely been able to grab and push away from her. The spider suddenly burst into inky black mist that was quickly blown away by a strange blast of green energy that came from what used to be the tree. Ranma had to shield her eyes from the bright energy.

"Ah, Amaterasu, creator of all that is good and mother to us all," A voice called, "Only a heart as pure as your own could have pierced this darkness."

Three figures rose from the area that the spider had laid in. Three white furred apes stood there. One had a pair of symbols, another a stringed instrument, and they were playing a slow soothing song. The third, however, was empty handed and was the one that spoke.

"We are the three gods of flora known as the Hanagami," The third one said, "I am Hasugami, " He motioned to the one playing the harp, "Sakegami, " and to the one with the cymbals, "and Tsutagami are my brothers. Thanks to you we have been freed from the Spider Queens belly."

"What happened here?" Ranma asked, breathing heavily and grimacing as talking make her injuries hurt..

"Because of your absence," Hasugami told her, "Our powers were greatly diminished And so we gave our powers to the Amazonian tribe of Joketsozuko so that our powers could still be of use in this world. They used that flute to nurture a harvest every year for almost 3000 years. But, in our giving this flute to the Amazons, we made ourselves defenseless; and so we hid away in this tree to watch over these fields in secrecy."

"But ten years ago," Hasugami continued, "The Spider Queen came to this field; and during the night, she devoured most of our sacred tree. She invaded it, making herself seem like the tree had withered. When the Amazons came to harvest the foods, she created this cursed zone, trapping them within stone statues."

Ranma glanced out at the statues all around them. They all looked as if they were looking at the tree in disbelief.

"But now that we are free," Hasugami said, "And so this wrong can be made right. Return to me my flute, take our powers, and heal this holy tree. Bring light back to this field."

He held out his hand.

Ranma glanced at the flute, its blade dissipated She gave it to him.

He nodded and began to play.

Ranma felt a warm breeze flow over her. The song itself seemed to revive her and fill her with energy. She closed her eyes and left the warmth flow over her, carrying away the cold chill that had been in her spine since she came here.

The tree started to creak and whine as it started to grow again; the old withered husk crumbling away. It reached towards the sky, streaming out branches that soon were covered with vibrant green leaves. Pink cherry blossoms started to open up and the air was soon alive with the falling pink petals.

The three gods Hanagami slowly dissolved into white lights and started to fly around Ranma; their music never stopping.

In a flash the tree lights entered her body.

Ranma breathed in deeply for a few moments. She then held out her hands and concentrated. She then thrust her hands outward.

At that very moment, a huge pulse of energy came from Ranma. This white pulse of light slammed into the cursed zone, blowing it away as if sand in a strong wind. Flowers and trees sprouted in its wake as it raced across the fields.

* * *

Back at the edge of the field, Shampoo had seen Ranma be severely injured by the spider, and had raced into the cursed zone despite its strength. She had fought against its evil for a good while, making it halfway there before collapsing as the weight that seemed to be placed on her grew too heavy.

She looked up to see Ranma standing with three figures that glowed with an ethereal light. She saw the gods Hanagami enter her friend. She saw Ranma burst into light, crimson markings appearing on her forehead as a snow white wolfs tail came from her and wolfs ears sprouted on her head.

Shampoo forced herself to stand even though the curse still weighed down on her heavily. She continued to run towards Ranma, even when the flash of light passed over her. The weight lessened, but only slightly.

She saw Ranma collapse. She ran harder.

She finally made it to her friend, not caring that her friends new extremities.

"Ranma," She said, her voice failing her as the curse weighed down on her, "Wake up..."

"Do not worry yourself," A voice came.

Shampoo looked up.

A wolf of snow white pelt stood before her. Its crimson markings and flaming wisps of holy energy allowing Shampoo to know who this was without question.

"Amaterasu..." She said weakly.

"Ranma will be fine," The wolf said, smiling, "She is me, after all."

Shampoo looked down at Ranma to see that the markings on Ranma's face and arms were identical to those on the wolf.

Shampoo closed her eyes as fatigue almost over took her. She wobbled slightly until she felt something bump against her. She looked to see the wolf nudging her gently from across Ranma's body.

Shampoo just looked at the wolf in surprise as it suddenly growled and jumped towards her.

She closed her eyes before the wolf hit and shrunk away, but all she felt was a warm breeze go through her. She felt the weight and fatigue of the curse wash away instantly.

She opened her eyes again to looked around. She saw the wolf pad from behind her over to Ranma's head.

The wolf gave another of its strange smiles before it dissolved into light and flowed into Ranma.

"Xian Pu!" A voice called out. Shampoo turned to see Cologne running up to her.

"Great Grandmother," Shampoo responded.

"Xian Pu, are you alright?" Cologne asked, but upon seeing she was okay, she yelled, "You fool, you shouldn't have entered the cursed zone so carelessly! You could have been turned into stone, or worse!"

"Sorry, Great Grandmother," Shampoo said, looking down.

Cologne simply sighed, "Well, I am glad you are okay. And I see that you saw our new friend Ranma's little secret."

"You... You knew, great grandmother!?" Shampoo asked.

"Ahahaha!" Cologne laughed upon seeing Shampoo's expression, "The markings, ears, and tail that you see I saw when I first saw her. And I am indeed impressed with her abilities."

Shampoo looked down.

"But I am more impressed with your own, Xian Pu," Cologne said after a small moment.

"H-huh?" Shampoo looked up.

"The cursed zone that you entered should have turned you to stone or something else almost instantly after you entered it," Cologne said, "but you're spirit was strong enough to transverse it, something I previously thought was impossible."

Shampoo looked away for a moment. She then turned back, smiling.

"Now come on," Cologne said, "Let's get our young deity back to the village so she can rest."

Shampoo was suddenly forced to back up as two men rushed in to pick up Ranma. The lightly put her on a stretcher made of cloth between two poles and lifted her off the ground. Shampoo took to walking just behind them.

Shampoo looked around as she started to hear people talking. Glancing around, she saw that the entire village was out in the fields. They were all looking at either Ranma or herself as they walked down the path of flowers that had suddenly appeared again.

"When did they get here?" Shampoo asked Cologne.

"Just before you took off into the cursed zone," Cologne said, "I think they're as equally impressed with you, Great Granddaughter."

Shampoo just blushed in embarrassment and looked down.

Eventually, she looked back up.

The song that the Hanagami played still echoed through the air, and it remained that way for the rest of the day.

* * *

**Joketsozuko**

A grand feast was prepared. The fresh food from the new orchid tasted even sweeter than any year before. The amazons celebrated the revival of the field with a gusto, celebrating as the Hanagami still played from the Shinshu Tree.

Far away, inside a hut, inside of a cage, Genma Saotome was whining again.

Why god...?

Why...?

Cuz I felt like it, foo'!!!

The festival lasted for the whole day and well into the night. And by the time night fell, Ranma started to stir.

Cracking open one of her eyes, she looked to see the ceiling of a hut. She could feel the cold towel that was on her forehead. She removed it as she sat up.

"Ranma!" She heard a voice, "You awake!"

She saw Shampoo running down the hall towards her.

"Oh, hey, Shampoo," Ranma said, "Did the field get better?"

"Yes, yes!" Shampoo said, "It even more beautiful than before! All thanks to you!"

"Ah, nah, it was nothing," Ranma said, smiling and scratching the back of his head.

"But Ranma beat spider lady," Shampoo said, "And call Hanagami!"

"I guess I did, but..." Ranma looked kinda embarrassed

"And whole village saw it!" Shampoo said, "And we saw Amaterasu there!"

"Huh?" Ranma looked up, "Amaterasu? What about her?"

"White wolf appear, tell Shampoo that you is okay," Shampoo said, "Then Amaterasu lift Shampoo's curse and turn into light. Then light go inside you."

"Heh heh heh," Ranma said, looking down, "The entire village saw?"

"Yes," Shampoo said, "Personally, Shampoo think fluffy tail and ears are cute!"

Ranma just blushed.

"So I guess the whole village knows?" Ranma asked.

"Indeed they do, newcomer," a voice said. Shampoo and Ranma looked to see Cologne hop into the room, "And they've been celebrating in your honor for most of the day."

"Really?" Ranma asked.

Cologne nodded, "But the celebration cannot end until the two guests of honor make an appearance, so we've prepared some clothes for you to wear."

"Two?" Ranma asked, "You don't mean my father, do you?"

"Good heavens no," Cologne chuckled, "The oaf spent the entire time in the cage. He's pretty much the only person in the village that doesn't know about you."

"Then who's the second one?" Ranma asked.

"Why Shampoo of course," Cologne said. Shampoo just blushed and looked down.

"Plur...?" Ranma looked at Shampoo confused. (See note later for the 'Plur' thing.)

"When Great Granddaughter here saw you get flung around by the spider demon, she rushed into the cursed field," Cologne said, "A rather brash move. But Shampoo actually made it all the way to you, even with the curse weighing down on her spirit. No one else has even even made it two steps within the field. That and she was cleansed by the legendary white wolf herself."

"You what?" Ranma said, "Shampoo, that curse could've strait up killed you!"

"I know," Shampoo looked down and said. She then raised her head and smiled, "But Shampoo was worries about Ranma. I no care about curse zone, I just want friend to be okay."

"She's been in here all day taking care of you," Cologne said, "We had to nearly force her to eat anything all day."

Ranma smiled

"Heh, thanks Shampoo," she said.

"Now you two get dressed so you can come out to help us finish celebrating," Cologne said as she pogoed out of the room, "And be quick about it!"

Ranma stood up slowly, Shampoo helping her.

"I'm okay," She said as she steadied herself. She nodded to Shampoo.

Shampoo smiled.

"Ranma's new clothes are on table over there," Shampoo said, "Shampoo going to go get dress now!"

She quickly left the room.

Ranma looked over to the table and the clothes on it.

"Eh heh," Ranma said as she saw them, looking kinda downtrodden at them, "It's a dress... great..."

Ranma sighed.

"Well, I am a girl now, so I'd better just get used to it, I guess," Ranma muttered to herself as she picked up the very pretty dress, "But I'm not making wearing anything like this become a common event. It is really pretty though..."

After getting dressed, rather slowly and clumsily, she looked at herself in the mirror.

The dress was not exactly tight, but it was definitely form fitting. It had a high collar and was embroidered with a white and red wolf. The bottom part was open on her side, going up to about halfway up her thigh. The small pair of shoes that were also there were basically just a clean pair of white kung fu shoes.

"Wow," Ranma said, one she had seen herself in a mirror nearby, "I'm _hot_. And they even put a hole for my tail in it."

"Ranma," Shampoo popped her head in, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I guess," She said.

Shampoo started to giggle.

"What?" Ranma asked, looking confused.

"Ranma didn't comb hair," Shampoo said, stepping into the room, "Here, let me."

Shampoo moved over to a chair and motioned for Ranma to sit. Ranma did so, all the while looking at Shampoo.

Shampoo herself was dressed in a similar Chinese dress, although hers was embroidered with cherry blossoms. Ranma felt Shampoo undo the braid and start to comb her hair.

"Ranma have very pretty hair," Shampoo said.

"Uh... thanks, I guess," Ranma said, "I never really do anything to it besides wash it and braid it."

"Ranma should keep good care of it," Shampoo said, "If one has to be deity, one must have nice hair."

Ranma laughed at that.

* * *

Ranma and Shampoo, as soon as they set foot outside, were met with a loud fanfare of people cheering. Both girls just blushed and laughed nervously.

The two girls were then hurried over to a very long table that was filled with an ungodly amount of food. Ranma was placed at the head of the table, with Shampoo to her right. Cologne sat to her left.

One of the other elders, the one with the freaky hat, then started to give a speech. Shampoo was just blushing constantly and Ranma didn't understand a single word the woman was saying. All she knew is that it was probably about her and that the woman basically had to stand on the table for everyone to be able to see her.

"You don't speak Mandarin, do you, child?" Ranma heard Cologne whisper to her.

"Um... no," Ranma said, embarrassed, "What's she saying?"

"I think you can guess," Cologne told her, "About how Amaterasu reborn and the strongest warrior in Joketsozuko managed to defeat a huge spider demon and bring life back to the village."

"Heheh," Ranma blushed and looked down, "That's what I thought."

"Don't worry about it," Cologne said, "If you want my opinion, you two deserve every word of it."

Ranma just looked away, blushing even more.

"Tell me," Cologne said, "What are you going to do after this?"

Ranma thought about that for a moment.

"I want to stay here a while," Ranma said, "But I want to go back to Japan."

"Ranma not staying?" Shampoo asked, looking a little downtrodden.

"I can't," Ranma said, "Just like this village, there are other places that are cursed. I have to fix them. It's my responsibility."

"Oh," Shampoo said, looking down sadly.

"Do not worry, great granddaughter," Cologne said, "I want you to go with her."

"W-what?" Shampoo looked up, surprised, "Great Grandmother?"

"You've changed Shampoo," Cologne said, "I saw it before, but its become even more obvious since Amaterasu healed you. You have a fire in your eyes now that wasn't there before Ranma graced us with her presence. The same fire that I see when I look into Ranma's eyes. You two have been connected somehow."

"Connected?" Shampoo asked, looking at Ranma, who looked equally confused.

"At fire I thought it was the fire to improve yourself, since it only appeared until after Ranma defeated you at the tournament," Cologne said, "But when I saw you rush into the cursed zone, I knew that you two had been connected. In truth, no mortal could have survived that cursed zone, and that's an end all be all fact. You're connection with Ranma somehow let you stand up to the curse just like Ranma did."

'Hmm...' Ranma suddenly heard Amaterasu's voice, 'I do think I recall something like this happening before...'

"Who said...?" Shampoo asked, looking around.

"Wait... Shampoo?" Ranma said, "You heard that?"

Shampoo nodded.

'It was very long ago, so I might not have all of the facts strait, but...' Amaterasu said, 'Back when I battled the eight headed serpent Orochi, I had with me a small partner. He was my Celestial Envoy. My power both protected myself and him as he aided me both in helping people and in battle. I do believe he even eventually came to be able to use some of my abilities.'

"Is... is this voice...?" Shampoo asked.

"Yeah," Ranma said, looking to her, "It's Amaterasu. She's inside of me."

"What are you two babbling about?" Cologne asked.

"Amaterasu's spirit wasn't the only thing to meld with my own," Ranma said, "Her consciousness did too. Every once in a while she'll tell me some stuff or explain something about my powers that I didn't know. And now Shampoo can hear her too."

"What she mean, Celestial Envoy?" Shampoo asked.

Ranma shrugged.

'The Celestial Envoy was originally charge with being my voice, as I could not speak as I was a wolf,' Amaterasu said, 'He also was eventually charged with spreading the word that the gods were still alive and still taking care of people, which he originally did through paintings.'

"Celestial Envoy, eh?" Cologne asked, "I think I've heard of something like that."

"What you mean, Great Grandmother?" Shampoo asked.

"Don't worry about it now," Cologne said, "You're forgetting that we're at a festival. A feast! Have fun now and I will tell you of this after the festival is over."

Shampoo and Ranma looked to each other. They both shrugged.

* * *

It was already far past sunset when the festival ended. Both Shampoo and Ranma were exhausted from the whole ordeal.

But as they were walking back towards the hut that Ranma had awoken in a few hours earlier, they heard someone called out to them.

"Ranma!" It said.

Ranma turned to look to see Ryoga running up to them.

"Oh, hey Ryoga," Ranma replied, turning to him."

"Ranma, you'll never guess what just..." He stopped and started to look her over.

Ranma blushed as he did so.

"Wh-what is it?" Ranma asked.

"What are you wearing?" He looked up at her.

"Eheh," Ranma chuckled nervously, "I-its just a d-dress, nothing really s-special..."

Ryoga just looked at her with an odd expression.

Ranma shook her head.

"Anyway, what were you going to say?" She asked.

"Huh?" Ryoga looked lost for a moment, before he perked up, "Oh, yeah! After the tournament yesterday, I went to try and find Jusenkyo again and ask the guide some questions. And guess what...!"

"W-what?" Ranma asked, kinda of confused.

"I actually made it there," He said, "Without getting lost! And I even found my way back here! Without getting lost!!!"

"You mean your horrible sense of direction...?" Ranma asked.

"Is gone!" He said, "It must have been part of that curse! I can't thank ya enough, man!"

"Don't worry about it," Ranma said, "It's my..."

She suddenly stopped talking and suddenly started to stare at Ryoga.

"What?" Ryoga asked.

"You..." Ranma said, "You look different. Why are your ears so pointy?"

"Oh..." Ryoga said, "_That_."

"You didn't fall into one of the springs, did you?" Ranma asked, looking back up at him.

"Um... yeah," Ryoga said, "The guide said it was something like the Cursed Spring of Drowned Wep'keer Warrior or something. He couldn't tell me where the hell a Wep'keer was or anything. He said that it was one of the oldest springs and that all that was known about it was its name."

"And how did you manage to get yourself dunked into one of the springs?" Ranma asked.

"I didn't do it on purpose if that's what you're thinking," Ryoga said, "Some weird... minotaur thing suddenly burst from the woods and smacked me into a spring as it ran by."

"Minotaur thing?" Ranma asked.

"The Jusenkyo guide said it was some guy that hung around the area that fell into a really weird spring," Ryoga said, "I can't remember what it was called..."

"Spring of Drowned Yeti Riding a Bull While Carrying a Crane and an Eel," Shampoo told him.

"Yeah! That one!" Ryoga said.

Ranma just looked at the two of them with a weirded out face.

"Don't ask," Shampoo shrugged, "Don't know how that one happen."

"We're gonna have to work on your Japanese," Ranma said, "That is if you're coming with Ryoga and me."

"What?" Ryoga asked.

"Shampoo is gonna come with us back to Japan," Ranma told him.

"A-ah, m-me?" Ryoga asked, "I-I'm coming w-with you?"

"Yep," Ranma said, "You have to get back to Japan anyway, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Ryoga answered.

"So then you're coming with us," Ranma said, "I'll need all the help I can get to keep my old man from doing something stupid along the way."

"Um... yeah, sure," Ryoga nodded.

"But right now..." Ranma said, "I'm bushed. I want a while to just rest after all that happened."

"What?" Ryoga asked, "After what happened?"

"Ranma save entire village from curse," Shampoo said, "Today was festival to celebrate!"

"Today was exhausting..." Ranma sighed.

"We should go see Great Grandmother," Shampoo said, "She said she tell us what she mean after festival."

"Yeah," Ranma said, "I had forgotten about that. I... I'll see you later, Ryoga."


	5. To Japan!

* * *

**Chapter Five : To Japan!**

* * *

**Joketsozuko, The Elders Hut**

"The only reason why we in Joketsozuko even know of the Legend of the White Wolf and Dark Serpent is because of a set of scrolls that the first Joketsozuko warrior women found," Cologne said, "They were supposedly made by a creature named Ishaku."

Cologne then placed a small box on the table the three women were sitting at. She opened it to reveal that it held separate small scrolls inside. She then took and unrolled one.

On the scroll was a painting of Amaterasu, expertly done by a master of his craft. It also contained small descriptions and details about the deity.

"The older ones detail simple things like Amaterasu's power and pure heart; others containing pictures and descriptions of the eight headed serpent, Orochi," Cologne said, "The newer ones tell of how the two beings came screaming down from the heavens towards Jusenkyo. How the serpents vile blood cursed the once sacred pools and how the god Amaterasu was sealed inside one of the springs. Such a spring held such great power that it warded off any who tried to bathe in it to receive the gods power."

"Amaterasu did say that I was her reincarnation," Ranma said, "Even before I fell into the spring."

Cologne nodded.

"That would explain why you were not expelled from the waters the instant you were submerged," Cologne said, "But back to the scrolls... These where made by this man, Ishaku, who writes himself down as being the sixth Celestial Envoy to the gods. He is believed to have followed Amaterasu around, aiding her. Of course, it also goes into detail about how aloof and happy-go-lucky the goddess was at times."

Ranma blinked.

"So if Amaterasu..." Shampoo said, "Chose Shampoo to be Envoy, then..."

"Then it is you're duty to follow Ranma," Cologne said, "To aid her in her quest."

"But, you don't have to follow me around," Ranma said, "I mean... if you really don't want to, you don't have to."

"No," Shampoo shook her head, "I... I do want to. I chosen, so Ranma's responsibility is mine also. And Ranma is friend."

"I..." Ranma said, before looking down sadly, "Thanks Shampoo."

"What is the matter, child?" Cologne said, slightly amuse by calling a deity 'child'.

"It's just that..." Ranma shook her head, "I haven't really been completely honest with you. About... about who I was before I fell into the spring."

"I see..." Cologne said, "It must trouble you for you to speak of it like so."

"It... i-its does, I guess," Ranma said, "I haven't really mentioned it because the spring also had kinda mage a big change to my... personality and things like that I guess. Several things about this form I would have freaked out over, but Amaterasu made it so that I wouldn't."

"And what thing is that?" Cologne said.

"B-before I fell into the spring," Ranma said, "...I was a boy."

"Haha!" Cologne said, "I thought so!"

"Huh?" Ranma and Shampoo looked up (down?) at the laughing elder.

"Well, for starters, Ranma is a boys name," Cologne said, "And you don't really carry yourself as if you had been a girl for your entire life."

"So... Ranma really is boy?" Shampoo asked.

"Nah, not anymore," Ranma said, looking down, "Amaterasu said that although her power could keep me from turning completely into a wolf, she couldn't change it that the spring was technically of a drowned _female_ deity. She said that since I was her reincarnation, I should have been born a girl in the first place, but I wasn't."

"And so she made it so that you were more comfortable with you're female form," Cologne said, "Something that would make anyone that fell into other opposite gender springs jealous."

"It really sounds weird to say it," Ranma said, "But I know I'm... a girl. If I didn't, you would have had to kill me before I would even think to get into the dress I'm wearing."

Ranma just looked down, blushing and fidgeting with the fabric of her dress.

"So Ranma is girl," Shampoo said looking relieved.

Ranma nodded.

* * *

**The Next Day**

"Ranma," Cologne called out to her.

Ranma was with Shampoo and was about to walk from the hut that she had called her home for the past few days. Ranma was again dressed in the clothing that she had had on when she had first emerged from the spring. White pants and a red shirt with white sleeves that had a white wolf embroidered on the front. Her hair was still done in a pigtail, although it was much more feminine since Shampoo had braided it for her.

"Yeah?" Ranma said, stopping.

"I wish for you to have this," Cologne said, holding out a long object that was wrapped in cloth.

"What is it?" Ranma asked, taking it.

"A sword named Tsumugari," Cologne said, "It's a holy relic that was found near the Jusenkyo springs by the first of the Joketsozuko amazons at the same time they found the sacred scrolls."

"But..." Ranma said, but Cologne interjected before she could continue.

"I saw that fight with the spider demon," Cologne said, "Martial Arts will be more than enough to take care of most demons, but you'll need a weapon of focused divine power to be able to cut through a stronger demons defenses."

"Its... a divine instrument," Ranma mumbled to herself, "Ha, I had completely forgot about that."

"Hmm?" Cologne asked, not quite hearing what she had muttered.

"Aah, it's nothing," Ranma said, before she bowed, "Thank you, honored elder, it will come of use."

"Ohoho," Cologne laughed, "You are most welcome child. I know it will."

* * *

The caring reunion of father and daughter between Ranma and Genma was indeed a reunion, but it was hardly caring. Genma had learned to hold his tongue while within the village, so all Ranma got was a small disgruntled notification. And while the silence persisted, Ranma took the chance to explain that Shampoo and Ryoga were going to be traveling with them and that he had no say in that issue. Genma just kept his mouth shut.

That is, until they got out of earshot of the village.

"What is the matter with you, boy!?" He yelled, "We cannot have anyone slowing us down! We must find a cure for your curse and return to Japan as soon as possible."

Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Returning to Japan I can agree with," Ranma said, "But we're not going to find a cure! It just be a waste of time to try and find something that doesn't exist!"

"Ungrateful boy!" Genma yelled, "A martial artist does not give up! There is a cure and we must find it!"

"And a martial artist doesn't waste time looking for something that doesn't exist!" Ranma yelled back, "And looking for a cure would be just that, a waste of damn time!"

"Oh, my poor ungrateful dishonorable son!" Genma said, the fake waterworks starting up.

"That only works if there's people around, Pop," Ranma grumbled, "And there goes my good mood. I should have left you back at Joketsozuko."

"You wouldn't really do such a thing!" Genma 'sobbed', "Oh my dishonorable son!"

"Shut up, Pop!"

It continued like this almost the entire day. Eventually, the three teenagers just decided to tone Genma out.

By the end of the day, they had managed to (surprisingly) make good enough time so that they ended up making camp just a few yards away from the Jusenkyo Guides hut. Genma quickly went over to the guide and started to ask him question after question. Ranma and the others took this time to rest their ears in peace for a moment. Maybe, if they were lucky, Genma would decide to sleep away from them so that they could sleep in peace too.

Ranma sincerely doubted that. Even if Genma did sleep away from them, it wouldn't be peaceful.

And peaceful it wasn't. It rained that night. Ryoga had his own tent, and Ranma and Shampoo slept inside a tent that Shampoo had brought along. The fact that Ranma was sleeping in the same tent as a girl made Genma surly, irritating, and loud. It was only magnified by the fact that Genma had no tent of his own.

Morning came all too soon. With Genma constantly interrupting their sleep, the three teenagers didn't get a very good nights sleep.

Ranma commented about how she would make Genma sleep up in a tree by kicking him up there if he interrupted her sleep again. Genma retorted that Ranma couldn't even lay a hand on him, especially since she was a girl now. Ranma retorted that he was just afraid that he would be beaten by a girl. Genma retorted. Ranma retorted. And so forth, and so forth.

This, eventually, led to Genma and Ranma fighting dangerously close to the Jusenkyo springs. Genma was hard pressed to fight Ranma now, since he had not been well fed in several days and hadn't gotten a good nights sleep himself because of his own actions. That and Ranma had seemed to have gotten faster and stronger in a very short amount of time.

Genma carefully manipulated the fight, however, until he had managed to force Ranma into the valley of springs. Ranma was forced to jump up onto the bamboo poles to avoid slipping on the mud and wet rocks.

"What are you doing, Old Man!?" Ranma yelled, "You trying to get yourself cursed again!?"

Genma, however, didn't answer. This kinda threw Ranma off.

Genma suddenly unleashing power and speed that Ranma didn't know about also threw her off. With her father moving in techniques that she hadn't ever seen him used before, she was hard pressed to defend herself. She didn't want to use her god powers as they would probably end up with Genma being cursed again.

And she didn't want to know what a panda slash anything looked like.

Ranma brought her arms up in defense as a brutal kick to her stomach was barely blocked. She couldn't however, raise her defense in time as Genma twisted in midair to send his other foot into her forehead, sending her rocketing across the valley and strait towards one of the springs.

"Honored Guest is headed strait for Spring of Drowned Young Boy!" The guide yelled out.

"Ranma!" Shampoo yelled, but she dare not rush into Jusenkyo knowing that she wouldn't make it there in time.

Ranma could only stare down at the water as she rocketed towards it.

The something happened that no one expected.

Ranma landed on what seemed to be a huge water lily. The water splashed up around the lily pad, but none of it hitting her.

Ranma slowly lifted her face off of the lily pad. She then slowly stood up. And ever so slowly, she turned to face Genma.

Genma fact suddenly became the same color as the cloth he always wore on his head.

Ranma was pissed.

Her lupine ears were slicked back, and her tail twitched behind her back. She was gritting her teeth together and Genma could hear her growling even from where he stood several dozen yards away from her.

It was then that Ranma suddenly ripped into action towards him.

The distance of about 200 feet was easily closed in under two seconds as Ranma ripped towards her father, holy rage in her eyes. In her wake she left a golden after image and where ever she stepped, ethereal flowers sprouted up for a few seconds before dispersing. Ranma was easily going twice as fast as she had been going when she had raced towards the Shinshu Tree.

"Raaaaaaaaaaagh!" Ranma yelled out as she barreled into her father, literally tackling him in mid air.

The force at which she hit sent both him and her easily flying far enough to clear the distance back to where Ryoga and Shampoo were standing at the edge. Genma landed on the ground, sliding a dozen or so feet before he stopped. Ranma was on top of him, his collar gripped in her hands as she pulled his face towards hers.

"You idiot!" She yelled, "I'm not your damn son anymore! There is no damn cure! Get it through your thick skull! Pull another stunt like that and you'll be whistling Dixie in the middle of the damn Pacific, got that!?!"

Ranma let go of her fathers collar and walked away from him, dusting herself off.

"Whoa," Ryoga said.

"Whoa is understatement," Shampoo told him.

"Can we go now?" Ranma asked, walking up to them, the anger in her eyes dissipated completely, "I have a huge ass headache and I want to leave this place behind me so that Genma can't try anything else like that."

"That's a good idea," Ryoga said, "But... how the hell did you do that?"

"Its... a long story," Ranma said, "One that I can't tell you with my father around. He's the last person I want knowing about it."

Ryoga nodded and watched Ranma walk by towards her backpack.

* * *

**Japan (Finally)**

"Where are we headed, anyway?" Ranma asked as the three teenagers were following a rather soaked Panda through the city streets. The two girls were standing under the umbrella that (a very nervous) Ryoga was holding.

The Panda just growled at them before holding a sign.

To an old friends house.

"This had better not be a trick, old man," Ranma said.

It isn't a trick. Have a little faith in your father.

"Okay, fine, fine," Ranma said, looking down, "But I don't feel right just going to someones house unannounced and uninvited."

They know we're coming. Genma signed, We're late because you decided to waste all that time in that lousy village.

"I wasn't wasting my time," Ranma said, "And you would've known that if you hadn't decided to gorge yourself on food that wasn't yours!"

Why you...!

The panda turned and came strait at Ranma, who didn't move to react.

There was suddenly a loud cracking noise followed by a meaty thwack. Ryoga and Shampoo blinked along with the other people walking down the street. A tree had suddenly and inexplicably popped through the blacktop right between Ranma and Genma. The meaty thwack sound was the sound of Genma's thick skull slamming into said tree.

Ranma just walked around the tree, not giving it a second thought.

"Uh... where did this tree come from?" Ryoga asked.

Shampoo just giggled and hurried to catch up with Ranma.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing out on something?" Ryoga muttered to himself as he hurried to catch up to the two girls.

Ite... Genma signed.

* * *

**Tendo Residence**

"Tendo, huh?" Ranma said, looking at the sign in front of the house, "Nice house. Is this the place?"

Genma nodded.

"Then lets go try to explain ourselves," Ranma said.

* * *

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "I wonder who that is?"

"With any luck, it's Saotome and his son!" Soun said happily, "I just wonder why they're so late..."

"Maybe they could caught up in customs or something," Nabiki said, not really caring too much.

"Great," Akane said, "I was hoping they'd get lost and never show."

They started to move towards the door before it suddenly slid open, revealing a large panda.

"Pop, you're gonna just scare 'em spitless!" A voice came before someone pushed the panda to the side. That revealed the three people standing behind the panda.

Soun scanned the three people before his eyes locked onto Ryoga.

"Ah!" He said, "You must be Ranma!"

Soun walked up and hugged him.

"Uuuuhh...?" Ryoga said, "No, I'm..."

"Come in, come in!" Soun beaconed them in.

Ryoga was pulled into the house. Ranma and Shampoo just glanced at each other and shrugged. Ranma turned towards the tall girl that was still standing there.

"Could I have a glass of hot water?" She asked, "And make sure it's pretty hot."

"Oh, okay," Kasumi said, "Please, come in."

"Thank you," Ranma said before heading in.

"You'll have to excuse father," Kasumi said, "He's just a bit excited. My name is Kasumi."

She bowed.

"Hello, Kasumi," Shampoo said, bowing herself, "My name is Xian Pu."

"And I'm really..." Ranma started to say before she was rudely cut off by a panda shoving past her, "H-hey! Watch it, old man!"

The panda simply snuffed at her.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "Is he your pet?"

"Yeah, something like that," Ranma said, looking off, "He's a major pain most of the time."

They the made their way into the living room where Soun was already introducing Ryoga to his other daughters.

"This is Nabiki, she's 17, and Akane, she's 16," Soun said, "Now all you have to do is pick the one to be your bride!"

"B-but, I'm n-not..." Ryoga said.

"Bride!?!" Ranma yelled out, everyone turned to look at the now fuming redhead standing in the doorway, "Pop!!! I thought you said this wasn't one of your tricks!"

This is a matter of honor! The panda held up a sign, It was deemed that the two schools be joined in marriage long ago!

"Wow, that's a very talented pet," Kasumi said, walking into the room with a glass of hot water.

"Yeah, very 'talented'," Ranma said, taking the glass. She then splashed it on the panda.

"Ite ite!" Genma shouted, "That's too hot!"

"Oh, shut up, Pop," Ranma said, handing the glass back to an astonished Kasumi.

"G-Genma!?" Soun said.

"Ah, hello, Soun!" Genma said, "It is good to see you again!"

"What happened to you?" Soun asked.

"Ah..." Genma said, tears flowing down his stoic face, "That is a long, sad tale, my friend."

"Oh, just shut up and tell them," Ranma said.

"It all began with Ranma and I finally getting to a place I had deemed the greatest challenge yet," Genma said, closing his eyes and looking down, his face still stoic, "Jusenkyo. The Cursed Springs of Sorrow. It is there that my son and I fought. I had been allowing him to win for a short time before I decided..."

"Tell them the truth, you idiot!" Ranma said, hitting her father in the back of the head, "Ah, forget it. I'll tell them."

Ranma then turned towards them as Genma rubbed the back of his head while his face was firmly planted into the floor.

"At Jusenkyo," Ranma told them, "Each spring has a curse set upon it. If one falls into a spring, they are cursed to turn into whatever last drowned there. Like if you feel into a spring where a panda drowned, ya would turn into a panda. That explains why the Old Man was a panda a minute ago."

"And who might you be?" Soun asked, "I do not remember Genma writing anything about Ranma having a sister."

"I'm not Ranma's sister, I _am _Ranma," She said, "The guy you just introduced to your daughters is my friend Ryoga."

Soun went ghostly white. Silence reigned for a small moment, except for Genma's occasional 'ite'. Ryoga just looked kinda embarrassed

"Th... th-then...?" Soun asked.

"Yeah, I was cursed," Ranma said, "And unlike Pop, I don..."

"Then if it can be reversed," Soun interrupted her, "That isn't so bad! I believe you've heard the introduction, all you need to do is pick which of my daughters will be your bride!"

"Bride!?" Akane said, "I'm not marrying a freak!"

"Hey, I'm not a freak!" Ranma yelled at her.

"You're a boy that changes into a girl! That makes you a freak!"

"I'm not a...!"

"Anyway," Genma said, finally getting up and interrupting Ranma, "Soun! Why don't we have a game of Go while we catch up!"

"Ah, a fine idea, Saotome!" Soun said, walking off with Genma.

"Why does everyone keep interrupting me?" Ranma grumbled.

At least before she yelled out as almost boiling water was drenched on her.

"Iteeee!!!" She yelped, turning to look at Nabiki, who had dumped the water on her, "That was BOILING water!"

"You... you didn't change back?" Kasumi asked.

Ranma looked down.

"No..." She said, "My curse is permanent I can't change back into a boy."

There was silence for a moment.

"It's okay," Ranma said, shaking her head, "I've accepted it, I guess."

"Ranma's curse also changed her personally into that of a girl," Shampoo said, giggling as she stepped up next to her.

"And who might you be?" Nabiki said.

"My name is Xian Pu," Shampoo said, bowing, "Don't worry about pronouncing it right."

"Shampoo here is from a village near Jusenkyo," Ranma told them.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "How interesting! It's very nice to meet you all."

"Kasumi, ever the optimistic," Nabiki said quietly.

"Anyway," Kasumi said, "You three must be tired and Dinner is almost ready. Why don't you have a nice soak in the furo white you wait."

"Oh, yes, please!" Shampoo said, "I haven't had a proper bath in weeks. Come on Ranma!"

"H-hey!" Ranma said as Shampoo began to pull her towards where Kasumi had gestured, "I can walk myself, you know!"

As the two girls disappeared into the bathroom, Akane started to grumble.

"I knew he would be a pervert," She said.

"No, not really," Ryoga said.

"He's a boy that turned into a girl because of some curse!" Akane said, "And he's using it to take baths with girls! How is that not perverted?"

"Because Ranma's a girl. It's weird to say it since we've known each other for years and years, but Ranma isn't just in a girls body," Ryoga tapped the side of his head, "She's a girl up here too. I don't know what it did exactly, but the curse messed with his head that way."

"Really?" Kasumi said.

"Yeah," Ryoga said, "She was even wearing a dress back at the village for a while. You'd be surprised how much feminine modesty she suddenly got out of nowhere. Genma Saotome is not a modest person by any stretch of the meaning."

"And I take it that you fell into a spring too?" Nabiki asked.

"Huh?" Ryoga asked, looking at her, "H-hey, how'd you know that?"

"You have elf ears," Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

"I-I do not," Ryoga said, "I'm not an elf. I fell into the Spring of Drowned Wep'keer Warrior, whatever the hell that means..."

"You mean you don't know?" Kasumi asked.

"Nope," Ryoga said, "Don't have a damn clue. All I know is that I'm a 'Wep'keer Warrior', and I don't even know what that is. My curse is like Ranma's; I can't turn normal again. Probably because I'm still human and a guy, I guess the difference is too small to really make a difference."

"So you were always a guy," Nabiki asked, looking him over.

"The only thing the spring did was change my hair and my ears," Ryoga said, "My hair used to be brown, but now its black-blue and if you look close enough some of it is a reddish color."

"Oh my," Kasumi said, going up close to have a look, "Why... yes, some of it is red."

"So now we have an old guy that turns into a panda," Nabiki said begrudgingly, "A Chinese amazon girl named after a hair care product, a red haired girl who used to be a guy, and an elf boy with multicolored hair living with us. This is going to be hell on the bills."

"I'm not an elf," Ryoga said, "Ranma and Shampoo tease me enough about that already!"

"It doesn't matter what I call you if we can't afford this many people staying here," Nabiki said, "We could all be out on the streets soon."

"Nabiki, don't say things like that," Kasumi said.

"I'm just saying the truth," Nabiki told her, "We have four extra mouths to feed. And we already had a tight budget because of Daddy not teaching classes any more. We just can't support this many people."

"If we really need to," Ryoga said, "I'll get a job or something. Ranma and Shampoo will probably agree to that too."

"But you three are what... sixteen?" Nabiki said, "It'll be pretty illegal for you not to go to school and the only school around here is Furinkan. And they don't allow students to have jobs."

"S-school...?" Ryoga said, "B-but I haven't been to school since... like almost 4 years ago!"

"Gees," Nabiki said, "Where have you been living, under a rock?"

"Well, sometimes I did manage to find a cave, but most of the times I slept in my tent," Ryoga said, thinking about it, "Of course sometimes people would let me sleep in their barns if I told them I would do some farm work..."

"It was a rhetorical question," Nabiki said, cutting him off.

"Oh, sorry," Ryoga said, looking down, kinda embarrassed

"Well, whenever the pervert gets out of the furo, could someone tell me. I want to have a bath before bed," Akane said, standing up.

"Well, dinner will be ready by the time they get out," Kasumi said, "You could have a soak after dinner."

"Yeah, I guess so." Akane said.

* * *

_(Note: 'Ite' basically is 'ow' or 'ouch'. 'Itetetetete' is basically 'owowowowow'.)_


	6. Furinkan

* * *

**Chapter Six : Furinkan**

* * *

**Tendo Residence**

"Soun, I have grave news to tell you," Genma said as soon as the two of them got out of earshot of the rest.

"What is it, Saotome?" Soun asked.

"It is about Ranma's curse," Genma said.

"What about it?"

"I'm afraid that... at this moment, Ranma is stuck as a girl. No amount or temperature of hot water can change him back."

"You mean...?"

"Yes, it makes the plan to unite the schools much more difficult. But there's more..."

"More...?"

"Ranma has been acting strangely ever since he fell into the spring of Jusenkyo. When I asked the guide what the name of the spring was, the guide was unable to tell me. The spring was unknown. Supposedly no one had ever fallen into it, but it was obviously more than just the Spring of Drowned Young Girl. A mere glance at him will tell you that."

"What do you mean?" Soun asked, having not seen anything unusual except for maybe Ranma's hair color.

"Ranma has been acting rather strange. He's much more disobedient than before and a lot harder to manipulate like before. He's also, on occasion, acted like a girl!" Genma said, not picking up that Soun didn't pick up what he said.

He won't pickin' up what he putt'n down about him not pick'n up that what he be putt'n down.

...I think.

"Then there must be a cure."

"Yes. When I asked the guide about unlocking a curse, he told me of two artifacts. One with the power to lock curses, the other to unlock. If we can get the artifact that can unlock curses, it should be able to allow Ranma to become a man again. But the only clue I have about it is that it is far north of here."

"Then we must waste no time in searching for it!"

"No, Tendo. Not quite yet."

"Wh-what do you mean, not quite yet!?"

"Ranma has also been exhibiting strange abilities. I cannot explain them. Things just seem to... _happen_ around him. Most of it is things strangely being... sliced apart, although there are times where plants and such have done strange things while he was there. I do not know what spring he fell into, but it has obviously made him much more powerful."

"So we must search for this artifact _without_ him knowing we are doing so."

"Exactly, but sadly, the curse has also made him much more intelligent. It will not be easy to fool him. We need time to plan and prepare; only then can we start searching."

"Then we shall do so, my friend. It will be Soun's..."

"And Genma's..."

"PLAN GET RANMA CURED!"

There was a silence as they both noticed that they had yelled that part out.

No one said anything.

Maybe nobody heard them.

* * *

"What the hell are those two yelling about?" Ranma asked, sitting in the furo as she upbraided her hair.

"I think it's kinda obvious," Shampoo said.

"They're gonna do something _really_ stupid," Ranma nodded.

* * *

The Tendo's, as soon as dinner was underway, were given the chance to see the new and improves Saotome Dinnertime Show. At first, Kasumi thought it was weird that Ranma asked if the chopsticks were disposable or not. She said that they were.

It wasn't until dinner started that she figured out why. Ryoga and Shampoo were eating normally, and to an extent, so was Ranma. It was Genma that was the spectacle. He would repeatedly try to steal food from Ranma, only to have his chopsticks sliced into several pieces for no apparent reason. Ranma wasn't moving to cut them or even to block them, the chopsticks were simply sliced apart in mid air.

Of course, Genma would whip out a new pair and eat a small bit of his own food before trying again, with the same results.

The funniest thing was that Ranma was eating at a slow and modest pace; her eyes closed most the time.

Eventually, Nabiki's curiosity perked itself.

"Okay, can someone tell me how in the world his chopsticks keep falling to pieces?" She asked.

"Hmm?" Ranma said looking up. It was at this point that Genma tried to steal from her again. This time, Ranma actually just brought up her own chop sticks to block, actually managing to snatch Genma's chopsticks away with her own, she then said, "I dunno. Maybe the gods are on my side."

This caused Shampoo to giggle. Ranma just smiled a goofy but warm smile and went back to eating.

Nabiki looked between Shampoo and Ranma, curious and confused. They were obviously hiding something. And no secret could hide itself from Nabiki Tendo for long.

"Well, anyway," Nabiki said, "I have to ask something. Where are the guests going to sleep?"

"What do you mean, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked.

"Well," Nabiki said, "Ryoga and Genma can share the spare bedroom, but where are Ranma and Shampoo going to sleep?"

"Why don't Ranma and Shampoo sleep in the spare bedroom, and Ryoga and Genma can sleep in the dojo?" Kasumi said.

"I'm fine with that," Ryoga said, "The floor of a dojo is much softer than the hard ground, anyway."

Genma scowled but nodded in agreement.

"Good, that was easy to resolve," Nabiki said, "Hopefully the budget will be as easy to resolve."

"Budget, huh?" Ranma said, looking up again, this time not bothering to catch Genma's chopsticks as they were again sliced apart, "I'm sure my old man wouldn't mind getting a job for once in his life."

"Hmm?" Genma asked, "A j-job? Are you sure one of you kids couldn't get one?"

"'All us 'kids' have to attend school," Nabiki said, "And Furinkan doesn't allow students to have jobs while attending classes."

"School?" Ranma looked up, "I have to attend school?"

"Well, yeah," Nabiki said, "Unless you want your father thrown in jail for a few days."

Ranma glanced at Genma. She narrowed her eyes for a moment as if seriously considering it.

"Ah, whatever," She sighed. This caused Genma to sigh in relief, "I guess I don't want Pop to be thrown in jail."

"Then tomorrow I'll leave early to set you three up as new students," Nabiki said.

"Even me?" Shampoo asked.

"Yep, even you," Nabiki said.

"B-but I've never gone to a school," Shampoo said, "We don't even have a school in the village!"

"Then that makes going even more important," Nabiki said, "You can't get anywhere in life if you lack intelligence."

"Well," Ranma said, "I guess that's that. Dinner was very good, Kasumi."

"Thank you, Ranma," Kasumi said.

Ranma stood from the table and walked over to where her pack was. She picked it up just as Akane excused herself. She stopped Ranma halfway towards the hallway.

"You study Kempo, right?" Akane asked.

"Um... yeah, a little," Ranma told her.

"Wanna spar?" Akane asked.

"Huh?" Ranma asked.

"Come on," Akane said, "Promise to go easy on you."

"Um... okay, I guess," Ranma said.

Ryoga and Shampoo exchanged glances.

But for two totally different reasons.

* * *

"Okay, are you ready?" Akane asked, sinking into a offensive stance.

"Yep," Ranma nodded, not sinking into any stance whatsoever.

Akane paused for a moment, before rushing in. She had said she was ready, so it was her fault if she got hurt.

Akane's initial blow missed by a mile.

Akane paused and looked around, not seeing Ranma. She then turned around to see Ranma standing about three or so feet directly behind her.

Akane hadn't even seen her move.

Akane attacked again. Ranma dodged. Attacked again. Dodged. Attack. Dodge. Attack. You get the point.

"Come on!" Akane yelled, "Fight for real!"

Ranma just smiled a warm smile, like she was enjoying herself.

Akane's final blow was a wicked hay maker punch to Ranma's head. She put her everything into it, and actually hit something this time.

Too bad it was the wall.

She felt a tap on the back of her head. She turned to see Ranma standing behind her with the same warm smile.

"You..." Akane said, but stopped, astonished.

"I'm sorry about the wall," Ranma said, looking at it, "And I'm sorry about not fighting back. I just wanted to see what level you were at."

"Don't treat me like I'm some beginner!" Akane shouted.

"I'm not," Ranma said, "You actually impressed me. Your moves seem self taught, but they're practiced and precise, meaning you work on them a lot. You seem to value strength over speed, but if you concentrated on speed a little more, you'd become much, much more formidable."

Akane paused.

"R-really?" Akane asked, "I guess I did kinda overdo it."

Ranma shook her head.

"I wouldn't worry about the hole in the wall," Ranma said.

"What do you mean?" Akane said, turning to look towards the hole, "I'm gonna have to pay Nabiki so that she..."

She couldn't find the hole.

"Where did it go?" Akane asked.

"Maybe the gods fixed it?" Ranma offered.

"Oh, come on," Akane shook her head, "You actually believe in those old fairy tales?"

Akane was surprised at the reaction. Ranma's expression changed from warm to pretty sad.

"Of course I do," She said, "I have to believe in them."

"What? Why?" Akane asked.

"Because if nobody believes in them..." Ranma said, looking down, "They'll die and disappear."

"What are you talking about?" Akane laughed a little, although it was an uneasy laugh, "Come on, get serious."

"I am serious," Ranma looked up at her for a moment, before looking down.

Akane just looked at her.

"I... I'm tired," Ranma said, "I-I'm gonna to go to bed now."

Akane watched as Ranma walked over to her bag, lifting it up. As she left the room, Ranma glanced back at Akane one last time before walking towards her room.

Akane stood there, not knowing what to do.

* * *

"Ranma?" Shampoo said as she entered the room.

"Yeah?" A tired voice answer from the center of the spare bedroom.

"Are you okay?" Shampoo asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Ranma looking up at her for a moment, her expression sad.

"What's the matter?" Shampoo asked.

"What Akane said," Ranma said, "About the gods being fairy tales..."

"Pffft," Shampoo said, "You know that not true."

"I know," Ranma said, "But so many people thinks of us that way. It's really sad. No one remembers Amaterasu, or Tachigami, or even the Hanagami."

"But the amazons did," Shampoo offered.

"One civilization out of countless," Ranma shook her head, "It's sad that no one else believes."

"Yeah, it is," Shampoo said, "But it you and my job to make them remember and set things right. We make them remember Amaterasu, Tachigami, and Hanagami... and every other god too."

"Yeah..." Ranma smiled, "We'll have to show them that gods still exist. One way or another."

Shampoo nodded.

"Come on," Shampoo said, "Sleep. We have school tomorrow."

She made a funny face as she said that.

Ranma laughed a warm laugh before she smiled and nodded.

"Night, Xian," Ranma said.

"Night, Ammy," Shampoo giggled.

Ranma giggled too.

* * *

"Hmm..." Nabiki said, sitting in her room, "The gods, eh?"

She looked at the tape recorder. She pushed stop.

"Well, like they said, we do have school tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning, Ryoga, Shampoo, Ranma, and Akane found themselves walking together towards Furinkan. Ranma and Shampoo walked along the chain link fence while Ryoga and Akane walked the sidewalk.

The three newcomers were wearing their normal attire, since none of them had anything remotely similar to a school uniform. Ranma was again wearing her wolf embroidered outfit, Shampoo a Chinese dress suit, and Ryoga his normal yellow and brown combination. There really wasn't any conversation going on as they neared the school. Ranma was just enjoying the warm spring sun.

"When we get to school," Akane suddenly said, "I don't want you to get involved with the fight."

"Huh?" Ryoga asked, "What fight?"

"It's just a stupid thing that the boys at school do every single morning," Akane said, "Just stay out of it, okay?"

"Uh... okay, I guess," Ranma said, looking down at her, "Just don't get hurt or anything."

"I'll be fine," Akane said, "I've won every single time."

As they neared the gates, they could start to see a large group of teenage boys that were standing just inside the school gates. Upon getting up near them, Akane suddenly broke into a mad dash towards them, plowing right into the middle of them.

Seeing that the gates were pretty much blocked by boys wearing everything to a kempo robe to a sumo outfit to that one weird of wearing a huge raccoon outfit, the three decided just to jump the fence instead.

Upon getting to the other side, Ranma suddenly stopped. She started to look around, as if trying to see something.

"What is it?" Shampoo asked.

"There's something... wrong about this place," Ranma said, taking a few cautious steps towards the school.

"A curse?" Shampoo asked.

"Maybe..." Ranma said, "But it's not very strong. I can feel it, but I can't see anything."

"Maybe it has something to do with that disaster-fest over there," Ryoga said, watching as the strangely outfitted boys started to fly through the air, "Damn, Akane is strong for someone of her size."

"I don't think Akane is cursed," Ranma said.

"Then what about the other students?" Shampoo asked, "I doubt any normal student would join in on that mob."

"It'd be hard to tell," Ranma said, "I would have to test every single person."

There was a pause.

Ranma suddenly shivered.

"It's cold," She muttered.

"Ranma!" A voice came from above them. The three there turned to look towards where it came from. Nabiki was standing in one of the third story windows, "If you don't hurry, you're gonna be late!"

"Oh man!" Ryoga said, "The teacher will be pissed if we're late the first day!"

"Come on, Ranma!" Shampoo said as she and Ryoga started to hurry towards the door.

"Hey, wait!" Ranma said, running after them.

However, before Ranma got to the door, she stopped dead in her tracks. Not seeing this, Ryoga and Shampoo kept moving inside.

A chill went down her spine. And the last time that had happened was...

Ranma slowly looked around. The only other person in the courtyard besides her; and wasn't unconscious; was Akane. She was begrudgingly walking past a few unconscious boys towards the door.

"Honestly," Akane said, "Every single day..."

"Every day?" Ranma asked, "Why do you get mobbed by, like, twenty or thirty some boys every day?"

"Well, it..." Akane said, before Ranma kinda distracted her.

Ranma's eyes seemed to flash a small bit as she noticed that Ranma was now looking over her shoulder. The next thing she knew was that rose petals came swarming around her a second later.

"Huh?" Akane said, looking down at the ground, "They've never exploded before."

"Wha...?" Ranma said, "A rose? Is that all? I thought it was something dangerous."

"D-dangerous?" Akane asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I thought someone was attacking you or something," Ranma told her, "Why else would someone throw something at you?"

"You there!" A voice came, "Who are you to be so familiar with Akane Tendo!?"

Ranma glanced around at that before she saw who had said it.

"Uh...?" She said looking at the tall boy in a white kempo outfit, "I'm..."

"HOLD!!!" The boy struck a rather absurd pose, "Is it not customary to present oneself first!?"

He then whirled around and struck another crazy pose.

"My name is upperclassman Kuno, Junior, group E," He said, "Captain of the Kendo Club, undefeated rising star of the high school fencing world, but my peers call me..."

Pause.

"The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!!!"

At this point, you could hear the crickets chirping in Australia.

"Uh..." Ranma said, "I'm... Ranma Saotome..."

She then leaned into Akane.

"Who the hell is this guy?" She whispered.

"He just told you..." Akane deadpanned.

"I meant whats wrong with him?" Ranma hissed back.

"He's an idiot," Akane deadpanned again.

"I see that someone's decided to be helpful today..." Ranma muttered to herself as she leaned away.

"What was that!?" Akane yelled.

"Nothing!" Ranma said quickly, before she started walking, not really watching where she was going, "I'd better be getting to class, don't want to be late on the first _omph_!"

The 'omph' part was her walking into something. Or someone.

"Hey, watch it!" Ranma said, looking at them.

"Ranma Saotome..." The person, Kuno, said with a stoic face, looking off into the distance with an extremely serious look on his face, "I..."

Ranma just looked up at him, unsure of what the hell this guy was doing.

"I..." Kuno said again, "NEVER BEFORE HAVE I SEE SUCH UNRIVALED BEAUTY!!!"

Ranma stepped back at few times at that sudden outburst, dropping into a defensive position.

"And so I will enact the same as I have done with the beloved Akane!" Kuno yelled, "Only those who defeat thee in battle shall have the honor to date thee!"

"Wh-what!?" Ranma yelled out, "D-date!? Are you mental!?"

"Have at thee!"

Ranma moved out of the way of the blow rather easily.

"I-I-I'm not g-gonna date you!!!" Ranma yelled in panic, "N-no way, n-no how!"

She avoided the next few blows just as easily. Then Kuno stopped, giving Ranma time to move away from him. She still looked really freaked out.

"Ah, but of course one of such divine beauty as you would be as skill, nay, even _more_ skilled than that of the fierce tigress Akane Tendo!" Kuno said, "Then, if you manage to defeat me, I shall allow you to date me!"

"Wh-what!?" Ranma and Akane yelled out at the same time for completely different reasons.

"Where the hell do you get that sort of screwed up logic!?" Ranma yelled out afterwards, while in her head she thought, 'Divine beauty? Oh man, I hope he just said that and can't really see my true form...'

"I strike!"

Ranma, at this point, decided enough was enough. As Kuno charged in with a stab, show brought her hand up, almost as if to deflect his sword. It might of actually worked if she hadn't done it when Kuno was still about six or so feet away. To everyone else, at the moment, it looked like a really foolish move. But as that swipe ended, she balled up her fist and reeled back.

At that point, the sound of splintering wood could be heard. A moment after that, Kuno's wooden sword sliced neatly in two just above the hilt. Kuno had just enough time to look down confused before Ranma's fist hit his face.

Kuno was sent sprawling several feet away from where he had received the blow.

As Kuno laid there, Ranma walked past him, looking rather pleased with herself.

Everyone else who had watched was left wondering how in the world that had happened.


	7. My Lupine Goddess!

* * *

**Chapter Seven : "My Lupine Goddess!"**

* * *

**Furinkan**

"Attention class," The teacher said, "We have three new students today. Now, please, introduce yourselves."

"Um... I'm Ryoga Hibiki of the Hibiki School of Martial Arts. I've just recently returned from China."

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. My father and I were traveling with Ryoga and Xian here in China."

"Hello," Shampoo nodded, "I am Xian Pu from village of Joketsuzoku, China."

The classmates had, generally, the same response. The guys were googly eyed about two hot babes joining the class and the girls were googly eyed over the handsome boy joining the class.

"However," the teacher said, "Even with it being your first day, it does not excuse you from being late. Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome, please wait in the hall."

* * *

"I was wondering why I didn't miss high school," Ranma said, "_Bucket Duty_."

"This is your fault, you know," Akane said.

"My fault?" Ranma asked, "How is this my fault?"

"I fight Kuno every day and I'm never late," Akane told her.

"I didn't want to fight him!" Ranma said, "He attacked me! And what the hell was he talking about dating!?"

"At the beginning of this quarter," Akane said, "Kuno gave a speech to the entire school telling how somebody had to defeat me in battle before they could date me. That's why all those boys are out there every day. And from what Kuno said, you're in the dame boat as me now."

"Ah man..." Ranma said, mostly to herself, "I don't want to date anyone... I have way too much to do..."

"Too much to do?" Akane asked, "What could you have to do? You only arrived yesterday."

"Something that happened in China," Ranma told her, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you any more than that."

"Wha...?" Akane asked, "What do you mean, can't tell me? Is it some weird secret or something?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, looking down, "The only person who knows that's in Japan in Shampoo. I can't tell you, at least not yet. I don't know you well enough."

"Jees, it must be serious then," Akane said, looking only a small bit annoyed.

"Yeah, pretty serious," Ranma said, " Sorry..."

At that moment, the two of them suddenly heard the sound of someone tear assing through the hallway towards them. They both looked to see Kuno running towards them.

"K-Kuno!?" Akane said.

"Ah, hell, this freak again!?" Ranma yelled out.

"My fierce tigress!" He said, gripping Akane by the shoulders, "Tell me it isn't true!"

"Um... what isn't true?" Akane asked.

"Tell me that you aren't engaged to Ranma Saotome!!!" Kuno yelled out.

This, in a matter of seconds, caused the classroom windows to bust open rather quickly.

"I didn't know you swung that way, Akane!"

"I always knew she liked chicks."

"It was probably all those fights every morning."

"She does proclaim that she hates boys a lot."

"Noo! Why must all the cute ones be lesbians!? Why God!? _WHY!?!?!?!?!_"

"...Gees, Hiroshi, chill out."

"I-It isn't true!" Akane yelled out.

"Y-yeah!" Ranma agreed, "I'm not engaged to her! No way!"

"Then my worries are ill-placed!" Kuno replied, "And so, I have only one thing left to do."

His face went all stoic. Ranma and Akane glanced at each other.

"My Red-Headed Lupine Goddess!" Kuno yelled, turning towards Ranma.

"M-me?" Ranma said, while she thought, 'Please let him say that because of my shirt, please let him say that because of my shirt.

"To commemorate this glorious moment," Kuno said, reaching back and pulling a new wooden sword out of somewhere, "We shall again do battle! If you are able to defeat me, I shall allow you to date me!"

"What!?!" Ranma yelled out, just before she had to duck a strike aimed at her head, "Th-this isn't any place to fight!"

Ranma then started to move away from Kuno.

"Ah, you are right," Kuno said, "Then lead and I shall follow!"

He then started to run after her. Ranma headed towards the closest exit.

It happened to be a window.

Ranma and Kuno had already jumped out by the time they heard Akane yell.

"You idiots! This is the third floor!"

"At least they jumped out over the swimming pool," Shampoo said.

At that, Ranma looked down at the pool.

"Ah hell!" She yelled before she concentrated on the water surface for a moment.

Ranma landed lightly on what looked to be a giant lily pad.

"Whew," She said, "I'm glad I didn't get..."

Kuno's less graceful landing (ie. face first smack into the water) caused a small tidal wave to wash over Ranma and her lily pad. Ranma was left sitting there, drenched.

"...Wet..." Ranma finished in an annoyed voice.

Ranma shook all of the water she could from her head before something bumped up against the lily pad she was sitting on. She looked to see that it was Kuno's limp form, still face first in the water.

Ranma sighed.

"I guess I can't let you drown," Ranma said, reaching over and pulling Kuno onto the lily pad. She had to lift him up onto her back to get enough leverage to pull him up without capsizing the small lily pad.

To bad Kuno decided to wake up at that point.

"I fight on...!" He mumbled somewhat loudly into Ranma's sensitive ears, causing them to ring painfully for a moment. And if that wasn't enough, in Kuno's half conscious stupor, he happened to grope Ranma.

Really hard.

"Pervert!" She yelled out, flinging him the rest of the way over her shoulder. He actually got a decent amount of height, almost enough to get back into the window if he hadn't been going the opposite direction.

No, Kuno landed face first into the concrete surrounding the pool.

Ranma put her arm over her chest a small bit, looking rather pissed as she jump over to Kuno's now completely unconscious form. Glancing down at him with a glare that could melt steel, she walked away, her arms still over her chest as she headed to go back into the school building.

* * *

By lunch, Kuno had recovered, like always. And Nabiki, who had been enjoying a rather uneventful meal, was suddenly disturbed.

"Tendo," Kuno said.

"What is it Kuno-baby?" She asked.

"I hate it when you call me that," Kuno said.

"I know," Nabiki said, "Well, what is it?"

"The Red Headed girl," Kuno said, "I must know where she lives! I must know so I can shower her with love!"

Nabiki held out her hand. Kuno, not going out of the strange pose he was in, placed a small wad of bills in her hand. Nabiki counted it quickly, before she looked up.

"She's actually staying at our house," Nabiki said, "Along with her father and her two traveling companions Ryoga Hibiki and Xian Pu."

"Ryoga Hibiki!?" Kuno yelled, "Traveling with the red-headed lupine goddess!? You must tell me of this!"

"Hmm..." Nabiki said, "They've been traveling around on foot together for a while now. You know, sleeping in tents at night, bathing in the river. They seem to be pretty close."

"This...!" Kuno yelled, "This will not stand! I will not...!"

He looked down. Nabiki just raised an eyebrow.

"Who is this Shane Poe?" He asked.

"Xian Pu," Nabiki corrected, "The purple haired girl that came in with Ranma this morning."

Kuno seemed to think for a moment.

"Two women so beautiful..." Kuno said, "Surely the foul sorcerer Hibiki has them enslaved under his vile dark spell!"

Nabiki just raised the other eyebrow at that.

"I must defeat this foul sorcerer and free the two maidens!" Kuno yelled, "And worse, he now plans to enslave the fierce tigress Akane! There could be no other reason why he would have came to the Tendo home! I will not allow this!"

Kuno then bolted from the room.

Nabiki just took another sip of her drink.

* * *

"That Kuno guy is the biggest idiot and biggest pervert I've ever seen!" Ranma said loudly, "He's even more idiotic than my old man!"

"Yeah, but he's the son of the principle," Akane said, "So no one can really get him in trouble. And the other officials tend to ignore Nerima, especially Furinkan, because so much weird stuff happens here."

"Wonder how he found out about the engagement thing?" Ryoga asked.

"Probably from Nabiki," Akane sighed.

"Well I'm not going to stand for this," Ranma said, "As soon as I figure out how, I'm gonna put a stop to this whole deal. I definitely don't want a mob of boys trying to beat _me_ up every morning."

"Yeah, well, when you do figure it out, tell me," Akane said, "At least I'm not the only person that this..."

At that point, the sounds of yelling and shouting could be heard coming their way. They all turned to see Kuno running strait at them, wooden sword held high above him.

"Oh great, he's conscious again," Ranma sighed.

As soon as Kuno got near them, he stopped.

"Hibiki!" He yelled.

"Plur...?" Ryoga looked confused, "Me? What?"

"I command you to release these fair maidens from your vile grasp!" Kuno said, "Have at thee!"

Ryoga just stared at him as he charged strait at him, completely confused. As soon as Kuno started to come down with a wicked slice, Ryoga managed to move out of the way, snapping out of his confusion.

Kuno's sword sliced the table the four had been sitting at in two.

To get out of the way of the collapsing table and the now flying food; Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane were forced to leap away from the table as it fell in twain.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Ryoga asked falling back away from Kuno's strikes.

"Do not act the fool!" Kuno shouted, "Release the evil spell that you have casted over them!"

Ryoga, not being as fast as Ranma, could not dodge all of the strikes, resorting to using his sturdy bracers to deflect the blows away. However, he was still slightly hard pressed to deflect them. Kuno might be crazy as all-get-out, but he was very skilled with a sword and swift to boot.

Finally, a blow slipped back his defenses. Kuno's bokken slammed into the side of Ryoga's face, causing Ranma to reel back slightly.

"You're foul spells cannot block my holy fury, foul sorcerer!" Kuno shouted in triumph.

"Oh man," Akane said, "I hope he's okay. Kuno is very skilled when he fights a guy."

"Don't worry," Ranma said, "Ryoga is the toughest person I've ever met. The guys got skin like stone."

"And now, for my final strike!" Kuno said, "Huzzah!"

_Huzzah!_

Ryoga glanced at him at that point, with a look that promised death.

"Is... Ryoga okay?" Akane asked, "You said he was tough, but nothing about _glowing_."

It was true, Ranma was surrounded by a slight bluish aura that wavered slightly in the breeze. His eyes flashed in the sunlight, almost making it look like they were glowing slightly.

As he watched Kuno draw closer, all Ryoga did was clench his right hand into a fist.

Eventually, Kuno swung a verticle strike to hit Ryoga in the head. It was then, as the strike neared him, that Ryoga acted.

Ryoga flashed into motion, sending his clenched fist up towards Kuno, his hand leaving a slight bluish afterimage.

At first, his fist met Kuno's wooden bokken. As they connected, the sound of splintering and shattering wood could be heard as Ryoga's fist went strait through it without even slowing down in the slightest. Kuno didn't even have time to register this before Ryoga's fist continued on to slam into his face.

Kuno flew back. And when I say flew, I mean _flew_. Across the entire courtyard only to hit the side of the building, almost going through a second floor window. Kuno stayed implanted into the wall for a moment before he fell to the ground.

"Whoa, Ryoga," Ranma said, walking up to him, "That was a hell of a punch."

Ryoga just shook his head before rubbing his temple for a small moment.

"Eh, that was weird," Ryoga said, "When I got mad after he hit me, it made me feel funny."

"Whadda ya mean?" Ranma asked.

"It tingled, all over," Ryoga said, "It was like something in me was wanting to get out or something."

"Well, you _were_ glowing," Shampoo said, "That not normal."

"Glowing?" Ryoga asked.

"Like a freakin' light bulb," Ranma said, smiling warmly, "It was pretty cool."

Ryoga glanced at her and blushed.

"Well, anyway," He said quickly, "At least he's not bothering us anymore. Did all of the food spill?"

"Nope," Ranma said, going back to sit down at the table, which had miraculously fixed itself.

"Wait..." Akane said, "Didn't Kuno slice the table in two?"

"Maybe Gods fixed it," Shampoo said.

"You too?" Akane asked, "Ranma was talking about the gods last night."

"In Joketsozuko," Shampoo said, "Everyone believe in gods. We pay honor to Hanagami gods of flora for good harvest and to Amaterasu for warm summer."

"Yeah, I mean," Ranma said, looking convincingly confused as she scratched the back of her neck, "Can you come up with a better explanation as to why the table fixed itself, because I sure as hell can't."

"I guess," Ryoga said, sitting down, "There has been a bunch of weird stuff going on lately. Maybe it was the gods."

"Yeah," Akane said, sitting down as well.

* * *

_(Note: 'Plur' is just one of the random sound effects that I use to answer when someone calls my name. 'Plur', 'Za', and 'Da' are the ones I normally use. If you see any of these, ignore them at your own digression.)_

* * *


	8. Feminine Attire

* * *

**Chapter Eight : Feminine Attire**

* * *

**That Afternoon, Tendo Residence**

"Wh-what?" Ranma asked

"_What!?!_" Genma asked with much more emotion.

"Look, you've already said that Ranma's stuck in this form. If she had been a boy, you might of been able to get them to let it slide, but they're a lot more strict on the girls on the dress code," Nabiki said, "Unless Ranma just wants to go there and get sent home as soon as class starts."

"But..." Ranma said, "A school girl's uniform? Couldn't I just wear a boys uniform? I've seen 'em do it at other high schools."

"Not at Furinkan," Nabiki said, "The principle is a certified loon. If it were 100 up to him about the dress code, all the boys would get buzz cuts and all the girls bowl cuts. You might have been able to get away with it if you had come disguised as a boy earlier today, but too late now."

"What?" Ryoga asked, picturing himself with a buzz cut, and looking rather freaked out.

"Yeah, he has a strange fascination with those two hair cuts, Hawaii, and exploding pineapples," Nabiki noted, "But that's not the point. For Ranma and Shampoo to attend, they'd have to wear the girls uniform."

"No son of mine is ever going to wear any sort of dress!" Genma said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes while looking very stoic, "It has never happened before and it will never happen! Right, boy!?"

No response.

After a small moment of not getting a reply, Genma opened one of his eyes to look at Ranma. Ranma was looking off, trying to be inconspicuous, but failing miserably, being as she was wide eyes and fiddling her fingers.

"Right, boy?" Genma said darkly.

"Well... while you were locked up... the Amazons had festival about the fields being purified of the curse... and I was kinda the guest of honor so I felt obligated to wear the clothes they offered and not only that it was probably made specifically for me since it had the same wolf embroidery on it thats on that shirt that I got at Jusenkyo and I really didn't want to insult them or anything by not accepting something like that and not to mention I looked really good in it and I shouldn't have said that last part."

Ranma just fell silent and looked away after she said that one insanely long sentence.

"What!?" Genma asked, partially because he was angry and partially because Ranma had talked so fast that he hadn't caught most of what she said.

"While you were locked up," Ranma said, looking rather sheepish, "The Amazons gave me a Chinese dress to wear for the festival. And I did."

Genma twitched.

"But I did say that I wouldn't make wearing a dress a common thing," Ranma said.

Genma twitched even more.

"I don't think I should have said _that_ either..." Ranma muttered.

It was almost as if Genma was going to start frothing at the mouth at any moment.

"But at least I haven't worn girl's underwear yet," Ranma said.

Genma eyes started to shake back and forth extremely fast.

"I shouldn't have added _yet_ to the end of that..." Ranma muttered to herself again.

"Okay Ranma, cool it before your father suddenly flat-lines on us," Nabiki said, "Genma will have to get used to either you wearing girls clothing or not going to school."

"Who needs school!?" Genma yelled out.

"Do you want to go to jail?" Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

"You know what, I feel like taking a walk. Perhaps I'll go to the park," Genma said, just before he stood up and strode rather swiftly from the room.

That was actually very scary for some reason.

"Frankly, I'm surprised _I'm_ not freaking out," Ranma said, looking confused and slightly afraid.

"Why's that?" Nabiki asked.

"Because, before Jusenkyo I would have done anything to get out of wearing or even thinking about wearing a dress or anything remotely feminine," Ranma said, "I'm just a tad bit worried about what exactly the spring did in my head."

"Well, we'll deal with those things as they come," Akane said, looking at Ranma.

Ranma just smiled slightly and nodded.

"And the one that comes up first," Nabiki said, "We'll need your measurements."

"My... what?" Ranma looked confused.

"Your measurements," Nabiki said, "Waist size, height, chest size... things like that. And the perfect way to do that is for you gets some more feminine undergarments. Am I right when I say that you've still been wearing boxers?"

"Well, I don't have anything else," Ranma said, "B-but, you mean... like..."

"Bra's and panties?" Nabiki asked, "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

"Okay, whoa," Ryoga said, "Even though I'm not even part of the conversation, let me at least vacate the room first. It'd be _way_ to weird to hear _this_ conversation."

And with that, Ryoga walked out into the yard after Genma. Ranma almost looked like she wanted to follow after him wanting not to be in this conversation as well.

"I-I dunno about this," Ranma said, looking rather sheepish.

"Come on, you've already worn a dress," Akane said.

"B-but that was for a festival that I was one o' the guests of honor at," Ranma said.

"Still, unless you're gonna wear that same shirt for forever, you'll need some bra's anyway," Akane said.

"I guess, but..." Ranma said, "Do I really have ta?"

"Technically, no," Nabiki said, "Socially, yes."

"But I didn't ever really think that I'd really ever have to do any of that," Ranma said, looking down.

"But you're permanently a girl, now, right?" Akane asked, "You'd have to sooner or later."

"But..." Ranma said, her face almost blushing to the same red as her face, "I dunno."

"Ranma shouldn't worry," Shampoo said, "Is nothing really special. Just something you have to do."

"I know I'm... like..." Ranma said, "_Supposed_ too, I guess. But... I..."

"Well, if you had the chance to become a boy again, would you?" Nabiki asked.

"W-what?" Ranma looked up at her, confused.

"What does that have to do with it?" Akane asked.

"Just answer the question," Nabiki said, "But think really hard about it. If you had the chance, would you go back and make it so that you'd be a boy. If you want me to phrase it differently, if you had the chance to be cured, would you want to stay as a girl?"

Ranma looked lost for a moment, before she looked down, a slightly troubled look on her face. Akane looked thoroughly confused, but Shampoo almost immediately seemed like she understood Nabiki's meaning in asking that question.

"I... I..." Ranma said.

"Don't answer right away," Nabiki said, "I want you to think about it for a while. Tomorrows the weekend, so we don't have to worry about uniforms until Sunday night."

And with that Nabiki stood and walked out of the room. Akane quickly got up and went after her.

"Nabiki," Akane said quietly, "What was with that question?"

"Ranma's problem at the moment is that she doesn't feel sure about committing herself to being female 100," Nabiki said, "The mere fact that she constantly kept trying to dance around the issue means that she's; at least on a subconscious level; already entertaining the thought. When she figures out her answer, she'll know."

Back in the living room, Ranma just looked down a the table; deep in thought with a tired expression. Shampoo was sitting next to her.

"Ranma okay?" She asked.

"Y-yeah," Ranma said, "I'm just getting a major headache because of all this thinking. I don't totally know what in the world Nabiki asked, but I think I know at least most of it."

"Nabiki using same technique that Great Grandmother use," Shampoo said, "Make you figure out both question and answer for yourself."

"So you know what she meant?" Ranma asked.

"I think," Shampoo said.

Ranma sighed and looked down.

Shampoo thought for a moment.

"Ranma, on road, did we sleep in same tent?" Shampoo asked.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, "Y-yeah, I guess. Why?"

"And we change in same room, right?" Shampoo asked again.

"Y-yeah." Ranma nodded

"Is that okay?" Shampoo questioned.

"Huh?" Ranma replied.

"Is that okay to do?" Shampoo restated.

"Well, yeah," Ranma said, "We're both girls."

"Right." Shampoo nodded happily.

Ranma just looked confused.

"Wh-what?" She asked, "Why in the world did you ask me that?"

"Think," Shampoo told her, looking at her seriously.

Ranma blinked a few times.

Ranma's head was aflutter with thoughts. It went something like this.

_I don't get it. I don't understand any of these questions, no matter who asks. I don't know why Shampoo asked me those questions and I can't even begin to think of what Nabiki was talking about. I just don't get it._

_I mean, Shampoo's questions were things she already knew. I don't get what she was getting at. Of course doing those things were okay, we're both girls. She knows that, so why ask? What does that have to do with me and... feminine clothing?_

_Well, truthfully, the clothes I have on are pretty feminine anyway. Pop really grumbled about it for a few days. I'm not really a total stranger to feminine clothing, I mean... I did technically wear a dress. But I don't think I'll ever get the weird make up or hair care things that girls are supposed to do. It just doesn't matter that much to me._

_And Nabiki's question... did she mean which gender was better? I mean, that's really hard to think about. Being a boy, I was always on the road with Pop, getting into fights with him and learning martial arts; and most of that hasn't really changed. But now I'm a girl and I actually have friends and I don't get in as many fights with Pop and I do have, ya know, __**god**__ powers._

_Would I go back?_

_...N-no... I don't think I would. Not because of all the good things that have happened since and probably because of me being a girl. I have a responsibility. But Nabiki doesn't have any idea about that, so that couldn't be what she was talking about. She was talking about clothing. I think... Shampoo said that she was trying to make me think of the question and the answer at the same time._

_Are all girls so needlessly complicated?_

_But we were talking about clothing... I think. Maybe she was just using that as a meta... metaform... metafork... pbbt, forget that word... M-maybe she was using that to make some other point. I mean, it has to be something along the lines of me being a girl now._

_I mean, I am a girl. Girls do wear stuff like that. And I've seem some girls that don't really do much with their hair or makeup, I mean, Shampoo brushes her hair and stuff, but nothing really special. Maybe I'm just chicken or something._

_And anyway, I can't be cured. I mean, who the hell has the power to curse a GOD of all things. Hell, it took a legendary eight headed serpent to do it last time and I don't intend on running into too many of those any time soon._

_I'm actually kinda surprised I hadn't thought about this earlier. It was bound to come up sooner or later._

_I guess it all boils down to the fact that I'm a girl. And there's nothing I can do to change that even if I wanted too._

_Wait... even if I...?_

"Sons of many bitches," Ranma mumbled.

"Hmm?" Shampoo asked, looking up at her friend who had been in thought for roughly about twenty minutes.

Ranma just turned to her and smiled a tired but warm smile.

"Thanks Shampoo," Ranma said.

Shampoo just smiled back.

"What is friends for?" She said.

"Just don't ask me weird crazy psycho-mo-logical stuff like that all the time," Ranma said, "My brain isn't built for that sorta heavy stuff."

* * *

**The Next Day - Shopping District**

"No," Ranma deadpanned, blushing in embarrassment

"You sure?" Nabiki asked.

"Yes," Ranma deadpanned again.

"It'd look really good on you, though," Nabiki said.

"You're not going to convince me to buy a lacy black bra, Nabiki," Ranma said, "When I answered you question, I wasn't saying that I wanted to leap head over heels into this."

"But all you have right now are sports bras," Nabiki said, "You should at least get a few others."

"I don't have enough money for any others," Ranma said, "I still need to buy... other stuff... and I don't want to be flat broke afterwards."

"Look," Nabiki said, "How about I lend you a couple of yen?"

"Why are you so interested in me having lace?" Ranma asked, looking at her.

"I'm just being thorough," Nabiki said, "I wouldn't want you to be caught in some situation and not have something you needed."

"I don't think I'll be needing black lace any time soon," Ranma said.

"Really?" Nabiki looked at her slyly, "I've seen those looks you sometimes give Ryoga..."

"What?" Ranma asked, not really catching what she said for a moment, she then started to panic a small bit, blushing heavily, "Wh-what!? N-no way! We're just friends!"

"Riiight..." Nabiki said, noting her reaction, "Anyway, I was just kidding. You can't wear sports bras all the time. I'll lend you a little bit of money to get some normal ones that _aren't _lace, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ranma said, looking off blushing.

"Although it would be extremely funny to see your father if he found out you had a black lace number," Nabiki said.

Ranma thought about that for a moment.

"You're not going to get me that way, either," Ranma said, "Although it _would_ be funny..."

"Okay, okay, fine," Nabiki said, "No more pressure about bras. All you need now is a few outfits. How much money do you have left?"

"Um..." Ranma said, "After this... maybe... 5000 yen."

"That'll be enough for one or two outfits," Nabiki said, "I take it you're not going to get any dresses or skirts?"

"N-no," Ranma said darkly, "I'm gonna have ta wear a damn skirt all the time anyway because of the damn school uniform, plus I already have a dress."

"Come on, it isn't that bad," Nabiki said.

"Yeah, but you've been a girl your entire life," Ranma said, "I'm only going maybe a month and a half. A month and a half that I've been wearing mainly my wolf outfit."

"Then we'll get you some normal clothing; pants, shirts, and blouses," Nabiki said.

"What's a blouse?" Ranma asked.

* * *

**Tendo Residence - Later **

Perhaps maybe an hour later, a slightly perturbed Ranma and a strangely satisfied Nabiki found themselves walking down the sidewalk. They were still quite a ways away from the Tendo residence when they suddenly saw a hubbub ahead.

Heh, hubbub...

There was a medium size crowd talking up most of the sidewalk and, even though there weren't that many people, they were crowded around in a way that made it impossible for Ranma or Nabiki to see what was going on.

"Oh, great," Nabiki said, "Another one..."

"Another what?' Ranma asked, looking towards the group.

"There's been a weird disease or something going around," Nabiki told her, "It's centered around Nerima, I guess this might be the first case of it outside of our ward."

"A disease?" Ranma asked.

"At least that's the only explanation that the officials can think of," Nabiki said, "People wake up feeling horribly tired and weak. Most try to go about the day as normal, but it doesn't really matter what you do. No matter what, by that evening, collapse; completely unable to stand or even move about reliably. There's other effects, but they aren't really too consistent."

"That..." Ranma mumbled.

'That sounds like a curse more than a disease,' Amaterasu's voice said.

"Nabiki, hold these for a moment, okay?" Ranma said, shoving the shopping bags into Nabiki's hands, "Thanks a ton. Be back in a flash."

"H-huh? Hey!" Nabiki said as she found herself holding onto three bags as Ranma hurried over to the crowd. Nabiki watched as Ranma somehow squeezed, quite nimbly, through the crowd.

Ranma popped out the other side of the crowd about five feet away from what looked like an elderly man who was laying on his back, moaning and trying to stand. Ranma could see that even as she looked at him, his features were very slowly starting to become wiry and pale. Wrinkles were ever so slowly forming on his face, as if he was growing older at a extremely fast rate.

"Hey," Ranma asked him, "You okay?"

The man only groaned in pain, exhaling a large breath of air, which hit Ranma in the face slightly.

Thankfully, the man's breath didn't stink. But it was icy cold.

Not normal by any stretch of the word.

"You should stay back!" A woman said, "He's got the plague!"

"It isn't a disease," Ranma responded.

"Then what the hell is it?" A man asked.

"It..." Ranma started, before a chill went down her spine. Something told her that she was being watched. She quickly looked around. However, she saw nothing. She shook her head slightly, "It's not a disease or anything. It's a curse."

"A curse? Yeah, right!" One man said loudly.

"A curse?" A woman said, "Oh no... the poor man."

"A curse?" Nabiki said, coming through the crowd as well, "Why do you think that?"

"I'd think it would be obvious it was a curse," A man whispered in the background, "why do they keep asking that?"

Another man shrugged.

"The man is seemingly aging rapidly," Ranma said, "He ain't strong enough to move and his breath is ice cold."

"Can you do anything?" A woman asked.

Ranma nodded.

"I can exorcise them," Ranma said.

"You can what?" Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

"Uh... heh," Ranma said nervously, "J-just something I p-picked up in China, th-that's all. Now, could you all back away?"

"Why?" Nabiki asked.

"Well, I can't just go 'alakazam' and the demons will go away," Ranma said, "The only way I can get rid of them is to physically find them and... well, 'kill' isn't the right word, but it works."

"You have to fight them?" Nabiki deadpanned.

"Yeah," Ranma said, "And they can be pretty powerful and unpredictable, so y'all just need to get to a safe place."

As soon as she said that, she set to trying to cast aside the curse that the man was under. The man started to cough and instantly started to regain color in his face as the curse started to weaken.

The people backed away. Those who looked like they believed her did so quickly, the others did so at a much slower pace. Nabiki, however, was the last to start to move away from them, only getting a few feet away before it happened.

Nabiki happened to notice the area getting brighter and warmer for some reason. She glanced up into the sky to see the sun directly above them. It seemed... closer than normal.

Ranma was forced to leap away from the man as a blade slammed into the concrete where she had been just seconds ago. Landing and sliding a small distance away, she stayed crouched down in a posture that looked almost like a wolf growling.

"Little creature who has the power to fight us," The... thing said, "I shall kill you for interfering."

The thing looked like a seven and a half foot tall man with inhumanly gangly arms and legs. It had two huge white wings on its back and had the neck and the head of a crow, the neck extending two feet easily from his torso. It wore traditional Japanese clothing with wooden sandals. It carried a seriously long and wicked masamune that it bore in its huge hands.

"The gods won't let you have your way any longer, demon," Ranma said, "And that includes me!"

Ranma flashed towards it, ducking low to go under the demons quick and lethal sword slash. Ranma came up, jumping towards its head and giving it a hard kick as she soared over its head and behind it. It cried a harsh and crazy sounding caw as the hit registered.

She dodged to the left as the creature recovered almost instantly and slashed back at her. She came back with a retaliation but found her hand hitting the side of its blade. Her next four or so attacks were blocked in the same manner.

Ranma was forced back as the creature started slashing at her quickly. She was very hard pressed to dodge the blows. Upon seeing a very small opening, she found herself forced to take it or be overwhelmed by the attack. She jumped in the air, twisting herself to avoid the diagonal slash. She spun in mid air and kicked for the demons face.

It was a risky move, one that Ranma wouldn't take if not in such a dire position.

However, the demons speed and the fact that the demon had a relatively small head compared to his body, caused her attack to miss, leaving her wide open.

Ranma was hit by two grueling slashes, sending her flying into an alleyway and through a few trash cans.

"Ranma!" Nabiki shouted.

Ranma hit the ground, rolling into a crouched position, looking at her torso, amazed.

"I... I'm not cut..." She mumbled.

'You're divine power covers you like a shield against evil,' Amaterasu told her, 'However, it can only soak up so much damage before breaking. At this point, it would be a good idea not to get hit with too many more hits.'

"No kidding," Ranma said, leaping over the trash cans just in time to see the demon attack Nabiki, "Huh? Nabiki!"

"Aaah!" She shouted as she fell backwards from the sword. She landed on her rear, unharmed. That much couldn't be said about the two bags that were in her left hand. They were pretty much cut to ribbons, along with anything inside of them.

Ranma landed and instantly sprung towards the demon.

'Ranma, you're divine instrument!' Amaterasu shouted in her head, 'The Tsumugari!'

Ranma's blow sailed over the demon, causing her to soar over its shoulder and to land in front of it.

"But I left it at the dojo," Ranma said semi-quietly.

'It matters not,' Amaterasu said, 'You can summon it too you. How do you think I used to carry my equipment around when I was a wolf?'

Ranma saw a blade coming towards her face, although she managed to deflect it with Tachigami's blade. The whole time Amaterasu was talking, Ranma had been forced to use Tachigami's sword to parry the blows. It was rapidly making her very tired.

Nabiki could only watch, kinda amazed, as the demon's sword seemed to be bouncing off some invisible object.

Ranma reached behind her back and grasped at something there. As she felt something enter her grip, she smirked. She drew it.

The weapon she drew was what looked like an expertly made and intricate Tai Chi sword. It had a blue and yellow tassel attached to its pommel and a gold moon etched into the hand guard. The flat of the blade was colored blue and held intricate designs. The actual blade was shining silver and extremely sharp.

Ranma started to block and parry the demon's moves, moving expertly with the weapon. It seemed that, with this weapon, she had somehow gained the upper hand.

As she made a stab towards its face, the demon blocked the attack in its normal fashion. It's defenses were tight and secure, but they didn't vary and were very easy to predict even if they were almost impregnable. As the demon blocked, Ranma smirked.

Ranma, in that split second, bore Tachigami's blade down upon it. The force that slammed into the demons blade caused it to falter and nearly lose its grip on its weapon. Ranma took this opportunity to spin around and slice at the creature.

Lopping its head clean off.

The head almost instantly 'poofed' into a black mist. The body crumpled for a split second before it 'poofed' as well. Ranma simply landed and took a deep breath before pulling out the Tsumugari's scabbard and sheathing it with a slight 'tink'. Ranma then walked over to the man who had been lying there. He had already sat up and had returned to normal, showing that he was truly only about twenty five years old.

"Ranma!" Nabiki said, "I thought you were dead!"

"Don't worry," Ranma said, "I've fought demon's harsher than that."

She didn't mention that she had only fought _one_ demon harsher than that or the fact that she was still relatively new to the demon fighting business.

"But... you're shirt," Nabiki said.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, looking down. The front of the wolf embroidered shirt had two large slashes in it, luckily both on her torso so only her stomach was exposed, "Dammit! My favorite shirt!"

"What was that?" The young man who had been cursed asked, causing Ranma to turn to him again.

"A demon," Ranma said, "An evil type of tengu... a crow I think..."

"B-but anyway," The man said, bowing deeply to her, "I cannot thank you enough! My name is Susano! I am in your debt!"

"Don't mention it," Ranma said, "And my name's Ranma Saotome. Hunting demons is sorta my job, I guess."

"You're a demon hunter?" Nabiki said, raising an eyebrow, "You didn't mention _that_ earlier."

"M-must'a slipped my mind or somethin'," Ranma said, looking sheepish.

"Please, Miss Saotome," Susano said, "If there is anything I could do..."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Ranma said, "Just promise not ta attract any more bad mojo or nothin'."

"Bad mojo?" Nabiki asked, "Don't you mean bad karma?"

"Same thing," Ranma deadpanned.

"Th-thank you again," He said, bowing.

"May the gods protect you," Ranma responded, nodding and clapping her hands together in a small praying fashion.

"As well you," Susano said, doing the same before grabbing the parcel that had gotten tossed around in the ruckus and hurriedly almost skipping away.

"More with the gods stuff?" Nabiki asked, "Don't mind me saying, but you're father doesn't look like the type of person who believes in Shinto."

"Oh, he ain't," Ranma said, rather plainly, "Doubt he has any religion at all. I-I guess I just picked it up alone th-the way... We did stop at a lot of temples, mostly 'cuz Pop wanted a free meal, but..."

"Well, I hope you're fine borrowing clothes from either Kasumi, Akane, or I," Nabiki said, "Everything but you're underwear got shredded."

"Ah dammit..."


	9. What The Hell Are You Wearing!

* * *

**Chapter Nine : What The Hell Are You Wearing?!**

* * *

**Tendo Residence**

Ranma sat there, kinda perturbed She, personally, didn't find the outfit she was wearing to be very nice. For one, it was a little bit tight around the chest. That, and it was kinda girly.

She had grown used to her female form very rapidly, but she still found it weird to find herself reminded of her new form every time she looked in the mirror. That, and, even though they were rather comfortable, the new 'female' undergarments she now wore constantly reminded her of her new state of being. It wasn't as if it was a bad thing, but up until now, she had gotten by without really noticing that she was different.

Now, it was almost constantly shoved in her face.

She was wearing a light blue pair of overalls that, although they weren't really 'girly', had a word 'China' patched onto the front of it in a cute curly fashion; the 'I' dotted with a small heart. The pastel yellow shirt she wore under that completed the ensemble. The sports bra and the front of the overalls constantly reminded her in a slightly odd way that her previously flat and strong chest had been changed into a pair of soft feminine breasts.

"Oh, come on," Akane said, seeing Ranma's sullen face, "It isn't that bad."

"N-no, I guess it isn't," Ranma said, "It's just that... ya know. It's weird, but I haven't really _noticed_ myself until just'a little while ago."

That, and the fact that the jeans didn't have a tail hole.

That was slightly uncomfortable; 'slightly' being a very loose term. And Ranma didn't want to cut Akane's clothing in weird places supposedly without reason.

"You'll have to get used to borrowing clothing from one of us," Akane said, "At least until you can buy more clothing."

"But I'm flat broke," Ranma looked down, defeated, making an annoyed face.

"Maybe Ranma can borrow older clothes," Shampoo said, seeing that Ranma wasn't too comfortable without a proper hole in the clothing near the base of her spine, "So she can tailor them."

"Good idea," Akane said, "But Ranma's... bigger than me, so I don't think she could wear any of _my _older clothing. You'd have to get Nabiki's or Kasumi's older clothing."

"Yeah," Ranma said, looking up, "No offense, but these _are_ kinda tight."

"What about borrowing Shampoo's clothing?" Ryoga said, having been practicing out in the dojo a few minutes prior.

"My clothes no fit," Shampoo said, "We same size, but different shape."

"Shampoo's waist is slimmer than mine," Ranma added.

"And Ranma's chest bigger than mine," Shampoo noted.

"Really?" Ranma asked, looking at her. Shampoo nodded. Ranma then looked down at her breasts, "Huh, I never noticed."

"Lemme go ask Nabiki about you borrowing some clothes," Akane said, standing and walking from the room.

There was a pause.

"Damn, this is uncomfortable," Ranma muttered.

"What? Why?" Ryoga asked from where he was sitting at the table. He didn't actively try to be in these conversations, really. He mainly just hung out in the living room and the dojo, which is where Ranma and them normally talked.

"Because I kinda have that _extra appendage_..." Ranma said quietly.

"Oooh..." Ryoga said, slowly nodding, "That would do it."

"Ranma," Shampoo said, "What happen while you and Nabiki were out? I had bad feeling and your wolf shirt all cut up."

"We managed to find a demon," Ranma said, "A crow tengu, I think. Damn thing nearly chopped me in half. Luckily Cologne gave me that sword."

"Tsumugari?" Shampoo asked, "But you leave that here, I thought?"

Ranma shrugged.

"Heh," Ryoga said, "You start'n in the demon hunter carrier or something? You've been getting rid of them left and right."

"Yeah," Ranma said, "Ever since Jusenkyo. My curse kinda lets me sense 'em."

"That reminds me," Ryoga said, "You never did explain about your curse."

"Oh yeah," Ranma said, "I forgot that I never told you. But... can it wait?"

Ranma glanced towards the doorway into the kitchen, where one could see Akane talking to Nabiki.

"Yeah, yeah," Ryoga said, "It's nothing urgent or anything, I guess."

"I'll tell ya soon, but it'll likely have to wait until tomorrow," Ranma said as Nabiki came into the room.

"Hey, Ranma," She said.

Ranma looked to her.

"You can have my old clothes if you want," She said, "If you can find any that fit you. I'm sure Kasumi will say the same, but..."

"But..." Ranma said, "But what?"

"Akane is the tomboy," She said, "Kasumi rarely wears anything but skirts and dresses and I don't necessarily dress in a very butch fashion. I'd get used to wearing more feminine clothing until you can scrounge up enough money to buy some more for yourself."

"Ah Dammit..."

* * *

**The Next Day (Sunday)**

_(Note: Yes, I know that students go to school six days of the week unlike in the USA where we only go five days. For the purposes of this fic, I want there to be a two day weekend, because having only a day and a half off would suck monkey cookie foots. Not feet, foots.)_

"What are you wearing, boy!?" Genma yelled out.

Ranma stopped her practicing.

"I told you last night," Ranma said, "All my clothes got shredded by that Tengu. I had to get some of Nabiki and Kasumi's old clothing."

"No son of mine is going to wear anything like that!" Genma yelled, "I demand that you go and get more, less girly clothing!"

Ranma was wearing one of Nabiki's old black tank tops over her sports bra. She had manged to find some... very 'femininely' short cut shorts that fit her. They didn't even go halfway to her knees. But it was pretty much the only thing that she could find that wasn't too girly but was something she could train in.

"I'm flat broke, old man," Ranma said, before raising an eyebrow, "Unless... you're gonna give me some cash."

"I demand that you go get a job so that you can get more, less girly clothing!" Genma restated without skipping a beat.

Ranma shook her head.

"You're hopeless, Pop," She said.

"Ranma," Kasumi said, sliding open the dojo door across the way from her and Genma, "I just came to tell you that lunch is almost ready. If you want, you have enough time to get a bath before then."

"Oh, yeah, thanks Kasumi," Ranma said.

Kasumi nodded.

"I'll put aside some clothing in the furo that you can wear after you're bath," She smiled before sliding the door shut.

Ranma turned back to Genma.

Or rather, turned back into the empty nothingness that was where Genma had previously been. Upon hearing the word 'lunch' Genma had instantly disappeared.

Ranma just shook her head and sighed.

* * *

Ranma shook her hair to get the water out of it. She had yet to get into the furo.

She sighed before looking down at her stomach where the Tengu had hit her with its sword. There was no sign of the blade ever hitting her; the skin wasn't even scratched. She then shivered.

"Gees, this water is cold," She said, standing up before stepping into the hot bath, she sunk into it, smiling, "Hmm... better."

As she sat there, relaxing in the water, she started to comb through the fur on her tail with her fingers, humming a small tune. The same tune that the Hanagami had played in Joketsuzoku.

Ranma soon found herself dozing off.

* * *

Ranma opened her eyes to see that she was standing on the beach. The sand was white and softly brushing up against her ankles as the waves lapped at her feet. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was wearing odd robes of white and red.

Glancing around, she saw that no one was in sight. A thick forest lined the beach as far as the eye could see. Far out over the water she could see mountains reaching upwards from the horizon. The crystal clear waters shined brilliantly in the warm afternoon sun.

Ranma would have freaked out if not for the undeniable sense of peace and calm that was washing over her.

Hearing a splash coming from far out over the water, Ranma turned to look as something was racing along the surface of the waters towards her. She simply stood there and let it come.

As it finally drew near, it raised its head from the water, showing that it was a long, shimmering white snake that had red markings all along its body. Instantly, Ranma knew that this was another deity.

"Ah, Amaterasu," The snake said as it slithered even closer, "Creator of all that is good and mother to us all, only a heart as pure as yours could lift the veil that was in front of my eyes. I am Nuregami; god of the waters in the vast ocean and countless mountain streams."

"Your fight with the Tengu drew my attention from where I slumbered in the far away oceans," Nuregami said, "The warmth of your light guided me to you yet again. Please, use the power of water to help save this land from the darkness that threatens it."

It was at that moment that everything suddenly tore out of Ranma's view as she felt someone shaking her.

"Aaah!" She said, sitting up quickly, looking over towards who had shaken her, "O-oh, A-Akane. Sorry. You k-kinda startled me."

"I... uh..." Akane said, "I came to get you because the food is ready. Kasumi asked me to put some clothes on the counter for you."

"Okay, thanks," Ranma said, standing up, "I'll be down as soon as I'm dressed."

Akane nodded and left the room.

"Hmmm..." Ranma said, "Nuregami..."

Ranma looked towards the tub of warm water. She held out her hand, focusing her power into the water. It was not long before water rose from the tub and into her hand.

Ranma soon had a softball sized blob of water floating in her hand.

"Guess it wasn't just a dream, then," She said, shaking her head. She turned to look at the counter and the clothes that were on it.

"Ah, dammit."

* * *

Genma sat there, grumbling loudly. Normally, that wouldn't be much of a deal. However, while he was a panda, it was slightly threatening. Ranma, Shampoo, and Ryoga all ignored it, having grown used to it. The Tendo's, however, gave the grumpy panda glances every once in a while.

Mainly, Genma was grumbling about how the water in the koi pond had suddenly shown a strange attraction towards him. While he was sitting outside, waiting for the food, the water had suddenly sprung up all of its own, splashing him in the face.

The other reason why he was grumbling was because of Ranma's outfit. Kasumi had said that it was the least feminine piece of clothing she had that would fit her, since Kasumi was actually quite tall; having gotten her high stature from her father.

Ranma wore a simple white blouse with a blue pleated skirt. She had, at first, looked at the skirt with disdain. However, once putting it on, she found that they were kinda to her liking, at least a small bit. She wouldn't ever say that though.

The main surprise she found with wearing a skirt was that the odd feeling that came from wearing pants with a tail pretty much went away. It was also much easier to put on, not having to pull her tail through a hole.

Plus, she looked good in it.

She wouldn't ever say that either.

"I'm sorry if you dislike those clothes, Ranma," Kasumi said, "I couldn't find anything less... feminine."

"It's okay, Kasumi," Ranma said, "I don't mind, I guess."

Genma flinched. Ranma just glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, get used to 'em," Nabiki said, "Tomorrow's a school day."

"Don't remind me..." Ranma said, looking down.

"Don't worry," Shampoo said, "Shampoo not want to wear silly dress either."

"Don't forget your uniform too, Ryoga," Nabiki said, "But I doubt you'll have any problems with it."

"Not very much, no," Ryoga said, "I've worn them before."

"So you've actually gone to school before," Nabiki smirked, glancing at Shampoo and Ranma.

"Hey, I've been to school before!" Ranma protested, "Me and Ryoga went to the same all boys school bad in the day."

"And you kept stealing all the bread at lunch," Ryoga deadpanned.

"I was hungry," Ranma responded quietly.

"Whatever," Ryoga said, going back to his food.

Genma, however, had gone into stalk mode. His master plan was about to be set in action.

He had realized that Ranma's strange new techniques; probably things he picked up in that village full of women; kept him from efficiently stealing his food... or more specifically, stealing any food at all. And so, he had lightened up the past few meals, not once trying to steal food. Now, though... now was the time to strike.

Genma; somehow holding chop sticks with panda hands; suddenly burst into action, quickly moving towards Ranma's food. Getting closer... closer... _closer..._.

Genma's chopsticks then suddenly sliced apart in at least five places. The tea that he had been drinking, now sitting on the table, suddenly burst upwards, spraying in his face. This lowered his guard as Ranma backhanded him, sending him through the open doorway, out into the yard, and into the koi pond.

Genma just floated there, face first in the water.

'Curses!!!' he thought.

Everyone, except Shampoo, just sat there trying to think of how the hell that strange series of events had just happened. Ranma, however, just sipped her tea.


	10. The Uniform

* * *

**Chapter Ten : The Uniform**

* * *

**Tendo Residence**

**Later that night...**

"Hey..." Ranma said, slowly opening the door into the dojo, "Ryoga..."

It was late. Probably close to 11pm. Hopefully everyone was asleep.

"Mmm-huh?" Ryoga asked, sitting up slightly.

"Come on," Ranma waved him out to the back yard.

Ryoga blinked a few times before he slowly stood up and started to wander over there.

The night air was brisk and cool. This seemed to wake him up a small bit as he walked outside.

Ranma was standing there, wearing one of Kasumi's old sleeping outfits. It was still slightly too large and was a faded green color; a stark contrast to her hair and symbols.

"What is it?" Ryoga asked, "This better be good. We have to wake up early tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know," Ranma said, "But I promised I would tell you about my curse."

"Huh?" Ryoga looked confused for a split second, "Oh yeah..."

"Well..." Ranma said, walking towards the koi pond and further away from the house, "It's kinda complicated."

"Complicated how?" Ryoga asked, following her.

"I'm sure you've heard me talk about the gods and stuff, right?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah," Ryoga answered, "Never thought of you to be a believer of Shinto, though."

"I wasn't, until Jusenkyo," Ranma said, "I was kinda forced into it, I guess."

"What?" Ryoga looked very confused.

"The spring that I fell into was the first spring to gain a curse at Jusenkyo," Ranma said, "Jusenkyo was formed when a demon and a god suddenly came crashing down from the sky. The demon's blood cursed the springs; one of which the still just barely living god fell into..."

"Wait, so you're saying...?" Ryoga asked.

Ranma nodded.

"That's the spring I fell into," Ranma said, "I'm technically that gods reincarnation... and I now have at least partial control over her powers."

"I guess that explains the weird things happening," Ryoga said, "So that's why the Amazons were all happy about you being there?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, kicking a few pebbles into the koi pond, "I got rid of the curse that was on their crop fields."

"So the weird things slicing apart? And the weird cherry blossoms that appear when you run really, really damn fast?" Ryoga said.

"The powers of Tachigami's blade and the powers of the Hanagami gods of flora," Ranma said lowly as the stepped up onto one of the rocks surrounding the koi pond, "And I've been the one splashing my old man."

"Damn," Ryoga said, "I've been traveling around with a deity..."

"You're taking this extremely well," Ranma said, looking at him while still standing on the stone, "You're not even questioning anything I'm saying. I had expected you to... freak out, I guess."

"That's partially because I'm still half asleep," Ryoga pointed out, "Also its because my parents were very into the spirits and the gods and stuff. Your markings were familiar, but I didn't recognize them until just a few moments ago. They're really similar to the markings on the pictures of the gods. Plus your fur is white. White and red seemed to be a thing with them. Plus you fuck'n summoned the sun."

"So you believe Shinto?" Ranma asked after a small moment, her hands behind her back as the shifted her weight from toe to heel a few times.

Ryoga nodded.

"But..." Ranma said, "Promise me you won't treat me differently, okay? Treat me like I was just normal Ranma. I'd much rather have friends than followers."

"Sure, I guess," Ryoga said, "But, hey... which deity was it? You mentioned a few."

"Um..." Ranma looked down a little, "Uh... heh... Ama... A-Amaterasu."

"Amatera...?" Ryoga said before his eyes went wide, "You... you mean the damn sun god!? Amaterasu!? The creme de la creme!?"

"Uh, yeah," Ranma said.

"Damn," Ryoga said, scratching his head, "I thought you were gonna be some other one, not the damn creator and all..."

"Just, promise me two things," Ranma said, looking back at him, "One, that you won't act differently towards me. And two, don't tell anyone. Especially Pop."

"I can guess why you don't want Genma to know," Ryoga said.

"I don't want him raising a huge ruckus or nothin'." Ranma said, "The old fool would have a damn field day."

"Yeah," Ryoga said, "I promise."

Ranma smiled and stepped off of the stone.

Or at least tried to.

Her foot managed to catch underneath the stone right in front of her, sending her falling to the ground. Or at least part the way as Ryoga managed to catch her.

Still leaning up against him, she steadied herself.

"Heh, th-thanks for the s-save," She said.

"N-no problem." Ryoga responded.

They went silent for a moment.

Until they realized a few moments later that Ryoga had his arms around her and she was pressed up against his chest. A split second after they both realized that, they were about five feet apart, both blushing like crazy.

"W-we'd better get back to s-sleep soon," Ryoga chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck, "T-tomorrow is a s-school day, after all."

"Y-yeah," Ranma said, going over to the doorway into the house. She opened it, but paused, She looked back, "Night... Ryoga."

"Goodnight," Ryoga responded as Ranma stepped inside and slid the door closed, leaving Ryoga standing out there alone.

* * *

Nabiki leaned back in her chair. She was kinda perturbed with herself, having only heard and seen the later part of the conversation. She had been asleep and today just happened to be the _one_ day she forgot to turn on the recorders in the house before bed. She fumed slightly.

She froze as she heard Ranma walking up the stairs and slowly going into the spare bedroom.

She thought for a moment.

"What connection does Ranma have with Amaterasu?" Nabiki said, "I only woke up because Ryoga suddenly shouted something about the 'creme de la creme'."

'You're hiding something, Saotome. Something big.'

* * *

"Ranma?" Shampoo asked as the other girl entered, "Where you been?"

"I went ta talk with Ryoga," She said quietly.

"Oh, you explain?" Shampoo asked sleepily.

"Yeah," Ranma said.

"Hmph," Shampoo said, rolling over to look at her, she raised a very sleepy eyebrow, "Why you blushing?"

"N-no reason," Ranma said, looking away, "It's just... um... kinda cold outside."

"Oh, okay," Shampoo said, rolling over again.

Ranma sighed in relief. Shampoo was still half asleep.

Ranma pulled the covers up over her as she laid down on her futon.

* * *

**The Following Morning**

"This skirt is all stiff and all," Ranma said, trying to straiten it out.

"Yeah, they're chock full of starch when you get a new set," Akane said, "It'll take a few days to get them worn in."

"Great," Ranma rolled her eyes, "Yet another reason why I don't like wearing this thing."

"At least you don't have to go to school in Juuban," Akane said, "The skirts the girls have to wear there are so short they're almost non-existent."

"I guess," Ranma said.

Ranma stood there, wearing the girls uniform. A small vest over a white blouse tied with a small ribbon in the front. A blue pleated skirt and a pair of leg warmers (optional), which she wasn't currently wearing.

"This thing is the ultimate girly dress," She deadpanned, looking at the mirror.

"Really?" Nabiki said, "I really don't mind it."

Ranma just sent her a withering glance.

"Oooo, I'm quaking with fear," Nabiki responded.

Ranma just sighed. There came a knock on the door.

"Hey, Ranma, you'd better hurry to the table before Genma gets all the breakfast," Ryoga's voice came.

"Oh, crap!" Ranma said, bolting for the door. She was thankful that she had practiced moving around in a skirt yesterday. Heaven forbid she get into a fight and not know how to move around without letting everyone see her underwear.

No, literally, heaven forbids it.

(thunder crashes)

Anyway, she quickly open the door to see Ryoga standing there in his own uniform, the same blue as her skirt.

"Uh..." Ryoga said as they both kinda froze, "Heh... at least if y-you have to w-wear that, you l-look nice in it... heh heh."

"Um, th-thanks," Ranma said, looking down, blushing slightly, "You l-look... h-handsome yourself... I guess..."

They both just stood there for a small moment.

"Oooooooo..." Nabiki said with am implying tone, "They make such a cute couple."

Ranma and Ryoga turned red as a result.

"I-it's not like that!" Ryoga shouted.

"Y-yeah!" Ranma shouted at the same time, "Definitely n-not! Th-there's n-no way!"

"Oh, methinks she protest too much," Nabiki said as she looked at Ranma, who just looked at her, blushing, "Well, anyway. I'll see you two love bird downstairs."

She walked past them, walking down the stairs towards the impending breakfast.

Soon afterwards, Ranma and Ryoga came down as well, both trying to fight back a blush.

As Ranma set down at the table, noting that Genma was there well before everyone else, Akane looked up at her to see her still blushing slightly.

"What's up with you?" She asked.

"N-nothing," Ranma said down, "J-just kinda embarrassed about wearing this, I guess."

"I can imagine," Akane said, "Maybe if you asked the vice principle would let you wear a boys uniform."

"She might," Nabiki said, "Until the head principle saw you wearing the wrong uniform and chucked a few dozen explosive pineapples at you."

"Pineapples?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah, the freaking loon," Akane said, "The weirdest thing about him, though, has to be the palm tree growing out of his head."

That got no immediate response.

"What?" Ryoga asked, confused and kinda weirded out.

"He has a palm tree on his head," Akane answered, shrugging.

"Ugh," Ranma said, looking down at her food, "I am _not_ looking forward to today."

"Why's that?" Nabiki asked.

"Idiot Sword Guy say that Ranma under same rule as Akane," Shampoo said, "Have to beat her in a fight to date her."

"Oh, so you got wrapped up in the whole shebang, eh?" Nabiki said.

"Yeah," Ranma said, grumbling.

"Well, nothing you can do about that," Nabiki said, "If you had been a guy and you two _were_ engaged, that might of gotten the mob off your case."

"But we're not engaged, right?" Akane said confidently.

That garnered no response from the two 'adults' at the table.

"_Right?_" Akane said sternly.

"What?" Soun barely looked up from the newspaper he was reading, "Oh, yes, no, not in the least."

Genma grunted his agreement.

Ranma and Akane just narrowed their eyes at their respective fathers.

"Pepsi is doing well in the stock market today..." Soun said off hand.

* * *

_(Nother Note: I changed the Furinkan girls outfits. The original ones were really boring.)_


	11. The Encounter

* * *

**Chapter Eleven : The Encounter**

* * *

**Furinkan**

**Lunch Period**

"Well, at least the fight this morning was a lot easier," Akane said.

Ranma grumbled.

"Oh, come on," Akane said, "It isn't that bad. Sure it's annoying, but it could be worse."

"How?" Ranma asked.

Akane paused for a moment. Thinking hard. Harder. _Harder_...

And for the life of her, couldn't think of any way it could be worse.

"Well, it could," Akane finally said.

Ranma just looked downward into her bento, not saying anything.

Truthfully, she wasn't even thinking about Kuno or the Date Mob, as Shampoo christened them. Truthfully, she was thinking about last night. About how her life had gotten kinda... unsettling ever since they got to Nerima. First, she was pretty much forced into much more feminine clothing and such. That alone rocked Ranma's internal picture of who she was. She had pretty much gotten used to _being_ a girl, but she hadn't really gotten used to thinking herself _as_ a girl. She knew she was, but had not previously labeled herself as such.

Probably, if she was still wearing what she used to wear and didn't have to wear this damn uniform, last night wouldn't of bothered her. It would have freaked her out, but it wouldn't of bothered her. It would have just been 'oh, Ryoga caught me, that's all good, what are friends for?'.

She had thought that most of her issues about being a girl were solved when she had realized the answer to Nabiki's question a few days ago. She hadn't dreamed that it would have just opened the flood gates. She had come to accept, if not unwillingly, that she was a girl and was thought of as such. She had come to accept that it was okay and sometimes expected of her to wear a dress or a skirt. She had come to accept that she was to wear a bra, if not just a sports bra. She had _not_ come to accept... _that._

She was actually too uncertain about it to even think it. It was simply... _that_. And as much as she tried to calm herself down, _that_ was extremely unsettling.

"Ranma!" She suddenly heard Akane yell out.

Ranma looked up quickly, surprised at the supposed sudden outburst.

"Wh-what!?" She said, looking at her.

"You were all spaced out," Akane asked, "Nabiki needs to tell you something."

"Huh?" She looked up at Nabiki, "What is it?"

"I was told to give you this," She said, holding out a small piece of folded paper.

"What is it?" Ranma asked as she took it.

"Read it and find out," Nabiki answered.

Ranma turned it over to read the writing that it had on the outside of the fold.

"To my beautiful red-haired lupine goddess," Ranma said, before becoming very annoyed, "Oh... it's from Kuno."

"And what does that idiot want to say?" Akane asked.

Ranma opened the note.

"On the morrow, in the fourth hour," Ranma read, "Meet me on the second field of Furinkan High school. Sincerely, upperclassman Kuno, Junior, group E, Captain of the Kendo Club, undefeated rising star of the blah blah blah... Gees, he even signs his letters that way."

"Sounds like a duel," Akane said, "Kuno does really hate to lose."

"Hmph," Ranma said, crumpling up the note, "If he wants a fight, then a fight I'll give 'em."

"He really made a impression, didn't he?" Nabiki arched and eyebrow.

"Eh," Ranma said, "I could use a punching bag at the moment."

"What wrong?" Shampoo asked, "You all tense and finicky."

Finicky? Finnicky? Fenicky? Eh, screw it...

"Nah, I'm fine," Ranma said, "Just got something on my mind."

"Oh, this wouldn't be about..." Nabiki said, "_Last night_... would it?"

Ranma looked up at her sharply.

"Oh, it was so romantic," Nabiki said, "Ranma falling into her savior's arms!"

"Sh-shut up!" Ranma said, "I-it wasn't l-like that! I-I tripped!"

Ryoga just looked embarrassed

"Yeah, whatever," Nabiki said, "I was just pulling your feathers."

Ranma just blushed and looked down.

"What?" Akane asked, looking clueless.

"I..." Ranma said.

"Ranma was just... uh..." Ryoga said, "Telling me about something she had seen yesterday! Yeah! And she tripped on one of the stones around the koi pond."

"Uh, yeah," Ranma said, "Ryoga just caught my fall, that's all."

"Really?" Shampoo asked, "What you see?"

"Um..." Ranma said, "Just... that weird thing that me and Nabiki saw! That guy who looked like a crow!"

"Oh, the Tengu?" Shampoo said, "But... I thought you tell us all at once."

"I... uh..." Ryoga said, "Wasn't paying attention?"

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak...

"Oh, okay," Shampoo said.

Akane just blinked a few times before she decided to drop it. Not her business, anyway.

"Well, I'm going back in side," Nabiki said, "Have a nice rest of the lunch period."

Ranma just went to looking down and twiddling the fabric of her skirt with her fingers.

She...

She didn't really think of Ryoga... _that _way.

...Didn't she?

* * *

(Note: Just to say, if you don't understand any of the lingo I'm using, feel free to ask. I mean, my family almost has its own damn language. Deadpanned. Quipped. Irked. Befuzzled. Hmph. Bumbled. Muf-tumberlon. Although I'm not sure I've used irked or quipped yet.)

(Note v1.1: _Bungalooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!_)

* * *

**The Morrow, On the Fourth Hour, On the Second Field of Furincan High School**

Ranma stood there, still in her uniform. She hadn't had enough time to go back and change clothing. The field was basically empty. There was a stray soccer ball a small ways off. She had her arms crossed in front of her. She was thinking about nothing in particular Or at least she was trying too. Her mind was still on the same issue as it had been the previous day.

"Ah, my beautiful lupine goddess," Kuno's voice came from behind her. She opened her eyes and turned around.

"Whadda ya want, Kuno?" She deadpanned.

"I have come to face you yet again," Kuno said simply.

"Ya must be confident in yourself," Ranma quipped, "If ya would come without a bokken."

"Yes," Kuno said, "Confident enough to give you _this!!!_"

Kuno then threw something at her. She grabbed it easily.

She found herself staring at a bundle of roses, dumbfounded.

"I love you," Kuno said, before turning around and walking away.

Ranma just blinked.

* * *

Ranma was walking slowly back to the Tendo dojo. The roses had been discarded long ago. She didn't want anything to do with that moronic creep. It sent shivers down her spine.

How anyone could be that stupid and not be under some sort of demonic control, she has no idea. She simply walked, staring down at the sidewalk, deep in thought.

However, even as deeply engrossed in her own thoughts as she was, she still heard a small commotion up ahead of her.

Looking up, she saw that something was happening just barely inside of an alleyway. It looked like three thugs were surrounding a woman, leering at her. The woman didn't look terribly afraid, but she was clutching the long parcel that she had in a way that looked like she was about to swing it at them.

Ranma picked up her pace.

"Heh," One of the thugs, the typical thin and wiry thug, said, "Lookie lookie. She wants to hit us with her little stick there!"

"Hah!" The typical big, tall, and fat thug said, "Look here lady. Just do'z what we say'z and nothing will happen to ya'z."

Yes, a Japanese person with a New York accent. But I digress...

"Mind showing us what cash ya got in your little purse there?" The thin thug said.

The third, the typical extremely buff thug, simply stood there watching.

"Hey!" Ranma said as she got close, "Leave her alone!"

The thin one turned to her first.

"Ey, look!" He grinned, "Another you girlie wants ta have fun too."

"Heh heh," The fat one said, "Today's a good day, boss!"

The third one just 'harrumphed'.

"I guess if you want to play too..." The thin one said, "But by the way of your little dress, ye ain't got any cash. Looks like we're gonna be taking something _else_."

Ranma flinched slightly, turning to look at the thin one with a very cautious yet very very angry look.

"Ooohohohoo," He said, "I likes 'em spicy!"

He then reached out to grab her.

The next thing he did was yell out in pain as Ranma simply grabbed his wrist and wrenched it, twisting it and easily breaking the bone. He was put out of his misery a split second later as she lifted him off his feet with a kick that sent him flying backwards. The woman with the parcel had to duck out of the way.

"Hey!" The fat one said as he came at her, much to slow.

Ranma simply stepped forward and slammed her knee into his gut. And even with his ample layer of fat on his belly, he still almost puked as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

Ranma barely had enough time to move out of the way as she heard a small click followed by a loud booming noise. She leaned back as she saw something rip past her, nearly hitting her nose.

She quickly looked at the last thug. His face was shrouded, not even looking at her. His hand was holding a rather large pistol, with Ranma in its sights. As she looked at him, she could see a definite aura around him. A chill went down her spine.

There was another loud bang as the possessed man fired again. Ranma also barely managed to get out of the way of that bullet as well by continuing to fall back. She, as quickly as she could, set Tachigami's blade on the gun.

Sadly, the blade didn't slice through the strong reinforced metal of the pistol. It did, however, send it flying out of the mans hand and put a good dent in it, probably ruining it.

The man didn't even react. His hand just dropped limply as Ranma cleared the gap between them in a flash. She hit him twice in the chest and once in the jaw. Not enough to knock really hurt him, but enough to hopefully bring him to his senses.

As she did, she saw that the black aura was driven back from where she hit him. It blew away from the man, collecting nearby in the form of a small... highly deformed monkey... thing.

As it struggled to stand up, Ranma just walked over to it and smashed it into oblivion with her foot.

She then turned back to the woman and the still highly dazed thug.

"Ugh..." The thug said, "Wha happen?"

The woman stood up, quickly moving away from the thug.

"You were cursed," Ranma said, "Possessed."

"What?" The thug asked, rubbing his jaw, "Why does my jaw hurt?"

"Hey, what day is it?" Ranma asked.

"Uh..." The thug said, "September 3rd?"

"Hmm," Ranma said, "That's five months..."

"1979?" The man asked.

"And almost seventeen years ago," Ranma said, looking kinda amazed, "I'd get up if I were you. Get you're two buddies here out of here."

"B-buddies?" The thug looked at the fat guy and the thin dude, "Who the hell are they?"

"Leave them then," Ranma said, walking over to the woman.

"Oh, Miss," The woman said, bowing, "I cannot thank you enough."

"That's okay," Ranma smiled, "Just helping out."

The woman leaned back up to look at her.

The woman's face went pale.

This caused Ranma to become confused.

"You..." She said, stepping back, "You have..."

Ranma just grimaced and looked down. She awaited the words 'freak' and 'dog girl'.

They never came.

"Amaterasu..." She heard the woman said quietly.

This made her look back up at the woman.

She wasn't there anymore.

Ranma looked down.

Oh, _there_ she is.

The woman was bowing to her, completely on the ground.

"Uh..." Ranma said, looking up at the people that were gathering around after hearing gun shots. Ranma bent down and took the womans shoulder, "D-don't do that. Come on, stand up."

The woman did so, looking confused.

"B-but..." She muttered.

Ranma glanced at the people behind them, looking embarrassed and concerned.

"I'll tell you later, okay?" Ranma said.

The woman slowly nodded just as a pair of policemen came running into the alleyway.

At that point, Ranma was pressed to come up with something so say to possibly get the possessed man off the hook. His physical appearance had completely changed, so it was kinda easy to convince them that the shooter had run off after this guy came in. Ranma was glad that the woman didn't say anything about this blatant lie. Ranma was also glad the cops believed her, since she was an absolutely horrible liar.

After the hullabaloo was over, the woman walked up to Ranma again.

"Um... Ama..." She started.

"Please," Ranma cut her off, "D-don't..."

Ranma sighed.

"Look," Ranma said, turning to her to see the woman was very confused, "I'm... kinda tryin' to keep a low profile so..."

"Okay then," The woman said, "Please, you must allow me to invite you to have tea with me. You did save me."

"Uh, okay," Ranma smiled a little.


	12. Hello, Momma!

**  
**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve : Hello, Momma!**

* * *

**A Small Distance Away from the Alleyway**

The woman's house was a traditional Japanese home, like the Tendo's house. It seemed kinda large for just one person, really. Ranma was currently sitting in the living room, watching the woman pour some tea.

"So," Ranma said, "You live here alone?"

The woman paused before setting the kettle down.

"Y-yes," She said, sitting down on the other side of the table, "My husband and son left almost ten years ago on a trip."

"Ten years?" Ranma asked, "That's a long time for a trip."

The woman nodded.

"I had hoped they would come back sooner," She said, "But I haven't heard hide nor hair of them."

The woman then looked up at her.

"Ama..." She stopped, "You are...?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, "I'm Amaterasu's reincarnation, anyway. I don't go by that name anymore."

"Really?" The woman asked, "Then by what name?"

"Ranma."

The woman froze for a brief moment.

"R-really?" She asked, "Strange."

"What?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, nothing," The woman smiled, "That's just a strange name for such a darling young lady."

"Y-yeah," Ranma said, looking down, "I get that a lot."

"My name is Nodoka," The woman said, "I cannot thank you enough for your help."

"D-don't worry about it," Ranma smiled, laughing a small bit, "It's my job, right? But... how did ya know?"

"Well, I find it odd that no one else did," Nodoka said, "The red markings and the ears, I mean. The markings are identical to those on a picture of Amaterasu that is passed down in my family."

"Well, about that," Ranma said, "Most people can't see them. The only people who can see them either have a strong will or some sort of divine connection. To everyone else, I seem perfectly normal. But you missed one, I have a tail too."

"I... I see," Nodoka said, now seeing the tail that was slightly curling around Ranma's knees as she sat there, "It's strange... But, oh, listen to me go on. I shouldn't be boring you with such trivial matters, Great One."

"N-no, that's fine," Ranma was slightly caught off guard with 'great one', "I-I only came into my... power very recently. At this point, I'd much rather have friends than followers."

"Oh my," Nodoka said, "So you mean... you weren't always...?"

"Nope," Ranma shook her head, "Up until about two months ago, I was a perfectly normal human being. Well, as normal as one would be growing up with the Old Man on the road all the time."

"What do you mean?" Nodoka said.

"Me and Pop have lived on the road for about ten years now," Ranma said, "N-not like we were homeless or nuthin', we were training martial arts."

"R-really?" Nodoka said, before mumbling, "That's very peculiar..."

"What is what?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, nothing,' Nodoka smiled, "You just remind me of my son. He and his father practiced martial arts too. That's the reason why they left."

"Oh," Ranma said, "I guess that is kinda freaky."

"My, but you don't really talk like a lady should," Nodoka said.

"Eh-heh," Ranma looked sheepish sipping her tea, "Yeah, that happens when ya grow up with only a surly Pop to keep ya company. This is actually only the third time I've ever worn a skirt..."

Ranma kinda blushed.

"Really?" Nodoka asked, "I had noticed you walk a slight bit oddly."

"Yeah, I'm a real tomboy," Ranma answered.

"Please, I'm..." Nodoka said, "If it's alright. Could I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away," Ranma said.

"Could you..." Nodoka asked, "Find my son and husband?"

"I..." Ranma said softly, shaking her head slowly, "Sorry. I... I don't really have any way of doing that. I'm not even close to being at full power yet. I can keep my eye out, but I don't really have any way of just going poof and there ya go."

"Oh," Nodoka looked down, "Well, I would appreciate if you would keep and eye out."

Ranma smiled warmly and nodded.

"Sure, no problem," She said.

"A-another question," Nodoka said, "I'm... curious. How... how did you come in to your powers?"

"Oh, that," Ranma chuckled a little bit, "Kinda weird, actually. I fell into a cursed spring over in China. You heard of Jusenkyo?"

Nodoka shook her head.

"Well," Ranma said, "If ya fall in, ya turn into what last drowned there. I fell into Amaterasu's spring. Lemme tell ya, I was _way_ different than I am now before I fell into the spring."

"How different?" Nodoka said.

"Well, um..." Ranma said, kinda not knowing how to answer, "My hair color... the markings and stuff, of course... um... my... uh... ya know, just everything. I looked completely different. I acted different too."

"So," Nodoka said, "So if, say, a cat fell into that spring before you... that cat would have become...?"

"Nah," Ranma shook her head, "I was her reincarnation even before I fell in. Everything else couldn't break the surface of the water. I sunk like a rock."

Nodoka sighed as she heard that.

"What?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Nodoka said, looking back up at the young deity, "It's just that you remind me of my son at every turn. The Shinto priest that lives nearby predicted that my son had the soul of a god. I'm sure it was just either something to make me laugh or something with a more simple hidden meaning."

"It is kinda weird how I'm exactly the same," Ranma said.

Ranma paused.

Nah, couldn't be. A woman like this would never marry the Old Man.

She shook her head.

"Anyway," Nodoka said, "I'd love to hear more about you, but I don't want to pry any more."

"Nah, it's okay," Ranma said, "I mean, you knew who I was right off the bat, so I really don't have any reason to keep anything a secret. I doubt you're gonna start acting like my Old Man."

"You keep saying bad things about you're father," Nodoka noted.

"Well," Ranma looked off for a moment, "Yeah, I guess. He's kinda sneaky and pretty off handed at times. He freaks out every time he sees me wearing anything remotely feminine. He almost had me engaged to another girl. But... he's my Pop and I guess I gotta like him at least a little."

"Engaged to another girl?" Nodoka asked.

"Yeah, that was one big mistake right from the beginning," Ranma said, "Maybe before the spring, but definitely not now."

"Before the spring?" Nodoka asked.

"Um..." Ranma looked down and blushed, "Yeah."

"You mean..." Nodoka looked at her, kinda freaked out, "You were...?"

"No," Ranma said, "I wasn't a lesbian or nothing. I was just... ya know... a guy."

She mumbled that last part kinda quietly, almost hoping that Nodoka wouldn't hear it.

"You were...!?" Nodoka asked, looked astonished.

"Yeah," Ranma looked down, "I was a boy. But Amaterasu's a chick, so the spring had to turn me into a girl. Then it messed around in my head, makin' me act kinda like a girl and stuff. I wouldn't even think of wearing what I'm wearing now up until two days ago."

Nodoka looked like she was thinking like crazy.

"What is it?" Ranma asked.

"R-Ranma," Nodoka said, closing her eyes, "Wh-what's your last name?"

"Huh?" Ranma said, looking really confused, "S-Saotome, why?"

Nodoka froze for a small moment.

"And your father?"

"Um... Genma Saotome?" Ranma was even more confused.

Wait... could she...?

Aw, damn. This wasn't the way Ranma had envisioned meeting her mother.

Nodoka froze again. This time for much _much_ longer.

"Ranma..." she said finally, "I think... I think you _are_ my son."

Damn it.

"Wh-what?" Ranma asked, looking at her, kinda freaked out.

"My name is Nodoka Saotome," Nodoka said, "Genma Saotome is my husband and Ranma Saotome is my son. My husband and son left ten years ago one a martial arts training trip."

It was Ranma's turn to freeze.

"Wh...?" Ranma said after a small while, "Y-you...?"

"But," Nodoka said, "I am uncertain about something."

Ranma didn't respond, so Nodoka continued.

"Before they... you left," Nodoka said, "Genma signed a pledge that he had written; if Ra... if you were not a man amongst men by the time I next saw you... you and Genma would commit seppuku."

"Wh-what!?" Ranma stuttered, "I...!"

She sighed.

"If you..." Ranma sighed and looked down, pausing for a moment, "Even if honor demands it... I cannot do that. I have the charge of protecting the world from the demons' evil. I can't commit seppuku, even if you ask me to. I'm sorry."

"R-Ranma," Nodoka said, "I..."

Ranma waited quietly for her response.

"I... I have had ten long years to wait," Nodoka said, "A small while ago, I might of asked you to do as such. But... I cannot allow you to do as such. Not only because you are Amatersu... but because you are my child. I can no longer hold you to this contract. I now only ask you one thing."

"Wh-what?" Ranma asked.

"If possible," Nodoka said, "Grow up to be a woman amongst women."

"Eh-heh," Ranma said, "That might be a while."

"I also would ask for you to give some grand babies," Nodoka went starry eyed.

"That'll _definitely_ be a while."

"Oh come now," Nodoka said, "You said the spring altered your mind to make you think and act like a girl, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ranma said.

"The you should have no problem finding a nice boyfriend," Nodoka looked very very happy at the thought.

"A... a-a boyfriend!?" Ranma said, almost in panic mode, "But... but I...!"

"Oh, come now," Nodoka laughed a small bit, "I'm not forcing you or anything. I was just asking."

"Well..." Ranma blushed a bit more, "I... I guess..."

"Hmm?" Nodoka looked at her, eyebrows arched slightly.

"There..." Ranma closed her eyes for a moment, as if steeling her resolve, "There is... this _one_ guy..."

"Really?" Nodoka asked, kinda amazed.

"He's an old friend," Ranma said, "Back from my old all boy high school. We met up again just after I was cursed... but..."

"You doubt he'd reciprocate the feelings," Nodoka said.

"Resipca-what?" Ranma asked.

"You doubt he would feel the same way about you," Nodoka explained.

"Y-yeah, I guess," Ranma said, "Still... I'm still kinda gettin' used to all this stuff... I mean... yesterday was kinda the first day I had ever worn a bra so..."

"Don't worry," Nodoka said, "We'll get that covered."

* * *

A small while later, after a lengthy talk about everything that had happened since the training trip began, Nodoka was slightly peeved at Genma; although 'slightly' was a vast understatement. Her happiness that her... child had come back to her mostly covered that though.

Mostly.

Nodoka was still kinda iffy about her son now kinda being her daughter, at the same time being, ya know, the goddess of the sun and whatnot. She had the sinking feeling that if Ranma had not saved her in that alleyway she would be reacting much, much differently. And now that she knew, she saw that; if you took out the furry ears and red markings; Ranma basically looked like a carbon copy of herself when she was younger.

Ranma had, she guessed, kinda come to terms about her feelings. She didn't really know much about friends and whatnot, so she really didn't know how to match up the feelings and the titles. She loved her father, but she also didn't like him, so he wasn't a very good thing to set the bar from. But the almost instant connection that she felt with the woman who had turned out, in some weird cosmic quirk, to be her mother kinda set the bar by itself. She felt that Nodoka was... important to her; kinda in a way she couldn't really describe. The small 'talk' about boyfriends made her realize that the feelings she had been feeling towards Ryoga were, all in all, not very far from that feeling.

But she was kinda iffy about it. She knew that she felt that way, but she didn't know how to express it or even what that feeling meant. She didn't know if she should feel that way. Her mind was buzzing constantly about it.

Nodoka had then, after a small while, showed Ranma around the house to see how much Ranma remembered about it. Most of the stuff she didn't, but upon seeing her old room, she instantly recognized several things, including the pillow that she had been slightly obsessed about absolutely _having_ to have it to go to sleep. She also remembered the kinda kiddy name she had giving it, since it was in the shape of a happy Panda.

Mr. Chubchub.

She also remembered that that name _really_ annoyed Genma.

Of course, Ranma also noted how much the pillow looked like Genma when he was a panda himself.

Therefore, Ranma instantly made the decision to start calling Genma 'Mr. Chubchub' when she was trying to piss him off.

Although it also kinda freaked her out that almost the first thing she had said about the panda pillow had been about how cute it was.

Shiver.

After a little while, Ranma suddenly remembered something.

"Oh damn," She said.

"Ranma," Nodoka said, "Watch you're language."

"Oh, um, sorry," Ranma said, "But I forgot that the Tendo's don't know where I am. Can... can I use the phone to call and tell them I'm not, like, dead in the gutter somewhere?"

"Of course," Nodoka said, "Tendo... do you mean Soun Tendo?"

"Yeah, do ya know 'em?" Ranma asked.

Nodoka nodded.

"Old family friends," Nodoka said, "I take it that you were engaged to one of Soun's daughters."

"Yeah, for all of about ten minutes," Ranma said, "I'm still... kinda shaky about it, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to marry another girl."

Ranma thought about that for a moment, before shaking her head. She moved over to the phone. Pausing a small moment to remember the telephone number, she dialed it.

"Hello?" It was Kasumi.

"Kasumi," Ranma said, "It's me."

"Oh, Ranma!" Kasumi said, "We were about to get worried that something happened at your duel with Kuno."

"Nah, it wasn't even a duel," Ranma said, the word duel snagging Nodoka's attention, "I just happened to bump into someone on my way back. Can I talk to my Old Man?"

"Oh, yes," Kasumi said, "Although I think he might be a slight bit... inebriated at the moment."

"That's okay," Ranma said.

There were some quiet noises as Kasumi handed the phone to Genma.

Ranma heard a hello grunt.

"Pop," Ranma said.

"What is it boy?" Genma asked.

"Do you remember Mr. Chubchub?" Ranma smirked.

Silence on the other end of the phone.

"What are you talking about, boy?" Genma said, "Start making some sense."

"I was just asking because I managed to bump into a woman named Nodoka on the way back from Furinkan," Ranma said.

Silence.

"Does she know?" Was the rather quiet reply.

"Yep."

"Did she say anything about Seppuku?"

"Yep."

"Well?"

"Nope."

"'Nope' what!?"

"No she isn't."

"Oh, thats good," Genma said.

"You wanna talk to her?"

"No!" Genma said, "Uh... um... n-no. N-not at the moment."

"Okay," Ranma said, rolling her eyes, "But I am going to have to ask you about that when I get back."

Silence.

"Ranma?" came Nabiki's voice.

"Nabiki?" Ranma asked, "What happened ta Pop?"

"He just jumped out the window," Nabiki asked, "What did you tell him anyway?"

"I'll tell ya later," Ranma said, "I was just calling to tell you guys that I'm okay."

"When can we expect you back?" Nabiki asked.

"I dunno," Ranma said, "Not to long I guess."

"Well, see ya in 'not to long'," Nabiki said, "I'll tell everyone you're not dead in the gutter somewhere."

"Okay, bye," Ranma said.

Nabiki replied in turn and thus the long drawn out telephone conversation came to an end.

"What was this about a duel?" Nodoka asked.

"Hmm?" Ranma asked, looking at her mother, "Oh. Some idiot at school wrote me a note to meet him on the school field at four. I had thought it was a martial arts duel or something, but it turns out he just wanted to give me some roses."

"Oh, I see you've already started to attract some attention," Nodoka smiled.

"Trust me, Mom," Ranma deadpanned, "That is one person I don't want _any_ attention from."

"My, why's that?" Nodoka asked.

"He's a Kuno," Ranma replied.

"Huh?" Nodoka looked confused.

"He's the biggest moron and pervert I've ever seen," Ranma told her, "And I'm pretty sure he's crazy or somethin'. He calls me his 'Beautiful Red-Haired Lupine Goddess'."

"So he knows?" Nodoka asked, setting her tea cup down.

"Oh, God, I hope not," Ranma said, "The first day I went to school, I didn't have a uniform, so I was wearing the only clothes I had. It was a red and white shirt with a white wolf on the front of it. I actually came out of the cursed spring with it."

"That's the only outfit you have?" Nodoka asked, "Nothing else?"

"No," Ranma said, "At times, Pop would sell some of the stuff we carried around with us for money. Turns out to get some money for supplies to go into China, he sold all of our clothing except for our gi's. Besides, that shirt got ripped by a tengu a few days ago."

"A... a tengu?" Nodoka kinda said absentmindedly, "So... what else do you have to wear?"

"Um... my school uniforms," Ranma said, "I had bought some clothes, but the tengu kinda shredded the bag that they were in. I've been borrowing from the Tendo sisters for other clothes."

"Well we'll have to remedy that," Nodoka said, "It's late, so the stores aren't open right now, but how about I come over to the Tendo's house and we can go get you some more. No daughter of mine is going to be without and suitable wardrobe."

"Really?" Ranma looked up, "Wow, thanks!"

"And I want to meet this boy thats caught your eye," Nodoka smiled widely.

"Momma..." Ranma looked down, blushing.


	13. True Feelings

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen : True Feelings**

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Tendo Residence**

"Your mother?" Akane asked.

Ranma nodded.

Ranma, Akane, Shampoo, and Ryoga were currently walking down the street towards Furinkan. Ranma, again, was wearing the girls uniform. At least today it wasn't that stiff.

"Did she freak out or anything?" Akane asked.

"Actually, not very much," Ranma said, "But for about half the conversation we didn't know who each other were. She just thought I was some random girl that had saved her from a group of thugs."

"It must have been awkward," Akane said.

"Not really," Ranma said, before cocking her head to the side a small bit, "Well... it was... at first a little bit awkward. I hadn't been talking about Pop very kindly. That and she mentioned that the old fool signed a contract saying how if he didn't make me a 'man amongst men', we would both have to commit seppuku."

"What?" Ryoga asked, looking at her with an amazed look on her face.

"What seppuku?" Shampoo asked.

"Ritualistic Suicide," Ryoga answered her, causing Shampoo to gasp.

"Kill yourself!?" Shampoo said, "B-but... what she say?"

"After I said that I couldn't do it," Ranma said, before adding, "Not that I was a chicken or anything, I just have something to do and dying would kinda get in the way... But she told me that she wouldn't make me do it."

"Oh, that good," Shampoo smiled in relief.

"So you and her spent most of the night getting to know each other," Akane said, "That explains why you got back to the house at midnight."

"Y-yeah," Ranma said, "Although I think she's miffed about Pop."

"Who wouldn't be?" Ryoga deadpanned.

"True," Ranma said, looking down.

A small pause.

"Oh yeah," Ranma said, "She's also coming over after school! After finding out that I didn't have any clothes, she said that 'no daughter of mine is gonna be without a wardrobe'. That means I won't have to borrow clothes anymore."

"That mean Shampoo get to meet Ranma's mother!" Shampoo said, "I excited."

"I told her about you guys," Ranma said, smiling warmly at Shampoo. She then looked at Ryoga, kinda blushing a little, but still smiling.

Ryoga just scratched the back of his neck and chuckled.

"Hope you didn't say anything bad," he said jokingly.

"Not too much," Ranma smirked.

* * *

Later that day, Ranma found herself in gym class. However, this was the first time that she had ever been in the girls gym class. She was currently swinging around on the gymnast bars. As she swung off the highest bar, she was sent high into the air, spinning until she landed softly on the ground. The girls that were watching her started to clap. After that, she and Shampoo decided to spar a small bit on the balancing beam just for fun. This also got a lot of applause. 

Across the field, on the side where the boys gym class was, Ryoga sat on the bleachers holding a conversation with a few other guys about his trip to China.

"So you were traveling on the road," A guy named Hiroshi said, then pointing to Ranma and Shampoo, "With those two, for more than two weeks?"

"Yeah," Ryoga said, "It took a while to hike back to the coast from where we had ended up."

"So, did you get to see 'em naked?" Another guy asked.

"What?" Ryoga looked at him.

"You were out in the woods, right?" He said, "Sleepin' in tents and all? You musta seen 'em naked at least once. You know, like if they were in a river or something cleaning off."

"Wh-what?" Ryoga said, "I..."

He actually HAD seen her... unclothed. On accident, of course, but still. And at that time Ranma hadn't yet developed any sort of feminine modesty so she really didn't react that much when he saw her. Still...

Ryoga's thoughts were thankfully taken away from those memories by the conversation continuing. Any longer lost in his memories and he would have passed out from the blood loss from the impending nose geyser.

"I heard that you're going steady with the Ranma chick," Hiroshi said, "I bet you've #&!."

"What!?" Ryoga looked at him turning red slightly, "We...!"

"Bet you've #& the &#! too," Another guy said.

"No way!" Ryoga protested, going into full panic mode.

"Ah, come on, a girl that cute?" Hiroshi said, "I would kill to get with a chick that looked like that. Either one of 'em."

"So you aren't going steady?" the other guy said, "Sweet, that means she's still up for grabs!"

"Heh," Ryoga grumbled, "Good luck tryin'."

"What what what?" Hiroshi said, "So you mean she's one of those girls who..."

"Hell if I know," Ryoga said.

"I thought you and her were old friends though," Hiroshi said.

"W-we are," Ryoga said, "But... but... ah, whatever."

He looked over in Ranma's direction, watching her and Shampoo finish up their spar.

He didn't see the soft ball until it slammed into his forehead.

He simply sat there for a moment.

"Sorry Ryoga!" Akane's voice came.

"You know Martial arts, right?" Hiroshi said, "Then couldn't you have dodged that?"

"I was preoccupied," Ryoga said sternly.

* * *

On the other side of the field, a similar; but less vulgar; conversation was going on. 

"So Ranma," one of the girls, Niomi, asked, "You traveled around on the road with Ryoga right?"

"Yeah," Ranma nodded.

"What's he like?" She asked.

"Uh..." Ranma said, "He's a real nice guy. We've been friends for years."

"Oh, so he's you boyfriend or something?" Another girl, Miki, asked.

Ranma kinda blushed.

"N-no," Ranma said.

"But your face is saying that you wish he was," Niomi said.

"N-n-no," Ranma said, "He's j-just..."

"Oh come on," Miki said, "No use trying to deny it. A guy who looks like that... I wouldn't mind being his girlfriend."

"Heh," Ranma said, "H-he is kinda handsome... I-I guess..."

Shampoo looked at Ranma at that. She saw that Ranma was looking off in Ryoga's direction. She smiled a small smile.

"Ranma just shy," Shampoo said.

"H-huh?" Ranma looked back at her. Shampoo just smiled.

"I never thought someone who was so good at martial arts could be shy," Niomi said, "Don't you need to have, like, confidence and concentration for that stuff? I know I would be nervous if I tried to do half the stuff you do."

"I guess," Ranma said, "But I doubt he would want _me_ as a girlfriend."

"Why's that?" Niomi asked.

"I d-dunno," Ranma responded, "Just a feeling, I guess..."

She then looked back over at Ryoga. They both saw that they were looking at each other and both of them looked down, blushing slightly.

* * *

**After School**

As they got home, they were treated to the site of a panda sweeping the front porch. Ranma was the most amazed at this. Genma... working?

Perish the thought.

Genma didn't even acknowledge them getting there, he just kept sweeping.

If one had watched him for a few minutes, they would have seen that he had been sweeping that one place for almost thirty minutes now.

Ranma just kept staring at him as she opened the door and went in. Heading towards the living room, she could hear Soun talking to someone. As she entered the room, she saw who it was.

"Hi, Mom," She said.

"Hello, Ranma dear," Nodoka said, "Soun was just talking about you."

"Really?" She asked.

"Just small talk," Soun said.

"Who are you're friends?" Nodoka asked.

"Oh," Ranma said, "This is Shampoo and Ryoga. And Akane, who lives here."

"Nice to meet you," Ryoga said, bowing.

"Very nice!" Shampoo did as well.

"So this is...?" Nodoka said, looking at Ryoga.

Ranma just looked down, blushing.

"Wh-what?" Ryoga said.

"Oh nothing," Nodoka said, "Now, weren't we going to go get something for you, dear?"

"Yeah," Ranma looked up, "But all I got to wear is this?"

She tugged at the collar of her blouse.

"Well, that's fine for today," Nodoka said, "You can change once we get back."

"Okay," Ranma said.

* * *

"I can't help but notice," Nodoka said, "That you haven't considered getting any skirts or dresses." 

Ranma looked up at her.

Ranma and Nodoka were in the womens changing room of a nearby clothing store. It that there that Nodoka saw for herself, without a doubt, that Ranma was indeed now her daughter. With a body like that, there is no way in hell she wasn't a girl.

"I... um..." Ranma said.

"Do you not like them?" Nodoka asked.

"It isn't that," Ranma said, "It's just that... they're really girly."

"I don't see why that's a problem," Nodoka responded.

"But..."

"No buts, I'm not going to let you not have any," Nodoka said, "You won't be leaving with only shirts and slacks."

"Hai, mother," Ranma said looking down.

Nodoka paused for a small moment.

"Ranma," Nodoka said, "Tell me something."

"Yeah?" Ranma asked, looking up.

"How is it that you faced three armed thugs in a dark alley way, but you're too afraid to talk to the boy you like?" Nodoka asked.

"I-its not...!" Ranma stuttered, "I... I just..."

"You're afraid of getting rejected?" Nodoka asked.

"N-no," Ranma said, before looking down for a small while, "Okay... yeah, I guess, a little... but... Ryoga's known me since forever, and I've only been a girl for two months... and... I'm still not completely sure if I should feel..."

Ranma drifted off after that.

Nodoka shook her head.

"Ranma, let me show you something," She said.

Ranma looked up as her mother came over to her. Her mother took her by the shoulders and turned her towards a nearby full body mirror.

"What do you see?" Nodoka said.

Ranma blinked, not quite understanding what she meant. These people and their philosophical-ness-nicity. It am hard, me still not does it rightly.

Ranma was wearing basically only her underwear and the blouse part of the girls uniform. But what did that have to do with anything?

"I don't get it," She said, utterly confused.

"You're still not sure about your identity, yes?" Nodoka said.

"I... yeah," Ranma said, "On the road it didn't even bother me. I knew that I was... a girl but I never really _thought_ about it. I was okay with it 'til we got to th' Tendo's and I was forced to start think'n about it."

"What to you mean?" Nodoka asked as Ranma turned to look at her mother.

"Well," Ranma said, twiddling her fingers in front of her, "I was a boy for seventeen years, up until we went to Jusenkyo. The spring mess with my head and made me somewhat comfortable with it, but I don't really know mow much. I guess... I guess I accepted _being_ a girl, but... I made Amaterasu promise that I would still be me, but now... I'm start'n to act differently and think differently..."

"You're afraid of turning into someone else," Nodoka said.

Ranma nodded.

"I mean," Ranma said, "It was a cosmic quirk that I was born as a boy anyway..."

"What do you mean?" Nodoka asked.

"Well..." Ranma said, "Back when I was cursed, Ammy said that I was actually supposed to be born as a girl, but I wasn't."

Nodoka blanked out for a moment.

"Um..." Ranma looked up at her to see her blank expression, "Mom?"

Nodoka shook her head.

"I'm sorry," She said, "I don't know what came over me for a moment."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me for a moment. But as I was saying, I can't tell you what's happening," She said, "But I'm your mother and all I want you to be is happy. But if you don't follow your true feelings, you never will be."

Ranma looked down.

"The way you acted," Nodoka said, "Before, was it so different than how you act now?"

"Well," Ranma replied, "I was a lot more hot headed and rude."

"Is that change because of the spring or because of something else?" Nodoka asked.

"I dunno," Ranma said.

"Well," Nodoka said, "Do you feel you're the same person?"

Ranma thought about it.

"I... I guess," Ranma said.

"Then look in the mirror," Nodoka said, "That is you."

Ranma glanced back to the mirror, looking at herself, in all her slightly fluffy wolf-girl splendor.

"You are my daughter," Nodoka said, "And no matter what reason you feel the way you do, that doesn't change the fact that you feel that way."

"I guess," Ranma said.

"Do you like Ryoga?" Nodoka said.

"Yeah," Ranma said, "He's one of my best friends."

"Do you like Shampoo?" Nodoka asked.

"She's one of my best friends too."

"Are you attracted to her though?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma looked down.

"N-no," Ranma said kinda quietly.

"Even though she's rather beautiful, kind, and friendly?" Nodoka asked.

"She is, but..." Ranma rubbed her shoulder.

"Are you attracted to Ryoga then?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma sighed, but didn't answer. She closed her eyes.

After a few minutes, she slowly nodded.

"Y-yeah," She said.

"Tell me," Nodoka said, "Why?"

"Why?" Ranma asked, blushing fiercely and looking off while twiddling her fingers faster, "W-well... he's a really nice guy. He's... handsome, I guess... and its... um..."

Her voice drifted off after that point, too quiet for Nodoka to hear it.

"Say again?" Nodoka asked.

"I said..." Ranma said as she blushed. But she was almost smiling as she said it, "It's... kinda cute the way he gets really flustered every time he sees me."

Nodoka kinda laughed as Ranma started to giggle nervously.

"See?" Nodoka said.

Ranma nodded, "Yeah. It doesn't matter why, just that it is. I guess I was still caught up a little, but I'm not a boy anymore, so there isn't any reason to still act like one. Just don't expect me to go full out, okay?"

"I'm perfectly okay with a tomboy," Nodoka smiled.

* * *

_Ranma's movin' out? Absurd!!! This cannot go without conflict or consequence!_

_**Next Chapter: Divine Interruption!**_


	14. Okami: Suspension Notice

Okami : Suspension Note

Okay, I'll be honest. I hate it when a story that I've been reading doesn't update for a long time and I admit I'm guilty on doing it to both of my current stories. Unfortunately, current circumstances have made me decide to suspend work on Okami until I can get some fresh ideas. I don't wanna write something without giving it my all and I don't want to upload anything that's under par.

And I do mean SUSPENSION. I do plan on continuing it… eventually. It's just that I've been workin' THREE jobs as of late and I have very little time to think. That and I've been working on a completely original story that popped into my head. It's kinda… like if you mixed Constantine, Spawn, and Silent Hill together… with a little bit of that movie 1408 in it… with a humorous twist.

If you wanna check it out I've posted a little bit about it on my blog at

http://blog. do plan on continuing Inheritage for the time being. I've had ideas for that for a while now.

I'll try and get back to Okami as soon as I can. With the upcoming Christmas Season, I'll have some time to work on it soon… I hope. Gamestop get's kinda hectic around Christmas… (CHILDREN!!! AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!)

Anyway, when the next chapter is up, I'll switch out this note for it, so the story will read uninterrupted.

TTFN

Kyros (Everybeast)


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